


Other Side of Me

by Pokeprof



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series, Ranma 1/2
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Persona Fusion, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Shadows (Persona 4), The Velvet Room (Persona Series), shadow self
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2018-12-10 08:05:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11687505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokeprof/pseuds/Pokeprof
Summary: It's often not easy to face ones self, to see all your faults and troubles laid bare to all. It's even more difficult to fight the monster that rises up from denying them, a true Shadow of yourself. What monsters await, then, for the likes of Ranma?





	1. Velvet Arrival

The first thought that came to one Ranma Saotome's mind after regaining consciousness was that of pain, a dull throbbing that came from the back of his skull, probably from the underhanded sneak attack done by his father. He should have honestly expected as such. His martial arts school  _was_  that of 'Anything Goes' which of course included underhanded tactics, but the young teen still felt it made one less of a man to use such dirty moves and subvert any skill that could have been shown when your opponent was aware and focused. The second thought, though, was one that struck him as odd. With the way his body was moving and the smell that was in the air, Ranma could tell that he was on a boat.

 _The old man's too cheap to even consider getting a ticket for a boat, much less two._  The pigtailed male thought, remembering how he had found that out after the last ship he and his father had been on discovered them as stowaways and promptly tossed them overboard. The crew probably wouldn't have reacted so badly had they not eaten so much food, or if his father had actually tried to pay for his crimes instead of creating more.  _But then, why am I…_

"Ah, it seems our young guest has finally awakened!" the voice before the young martial artist called out, the tone like that of a man taking pride in his work. Opening his eyes, Ranma looked about, seeing that he did appear to be on a cabin of a boat of some kind. Outside the slanted windows, he could barely make out the waves of water splashing about against the sides of the ship. He could feel the actual swaying back and forth, the up and down movements in the water and was glad that he wasn't the kind of guy to get seasick.

Focusing now on the owner of the voice, Ranma had to blink again to see if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. Sitting before him behind a lightly decorated table was a man who looked near ancient in age with big, bloodshot eyes, a long nose that seemed to take up a good chunk of his face and an almost eerie grin that wasn't completely hidden by his hands crossed before them. Dressed in a dark suit, he reminded the martial artist very much of an undertaker of sorts. The odd man chuckled, his grin growing even wider as he spoke. "Welcome, my dear boy, to the Velvet Room."

 _Velvet Room?_  Ranma thought, confused, the pain in his mind still washing over him. Why was he here? Did it have something to do with his father? Or was it a different circumstance completely? Where even was his pop? Nothing at all made sense…

"My name," The long nose man said, seemingly ignoring Ranma's plight, "is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

Ranma could only blink again, confusion still overwhelming him even as focus returned. While not exactly the kind of guy to worry or get scared, the pigtailed teen could still feel himself calming down from the sincere tone of voice that Igor seemed to use. Even if the martial artist wasn't what he would call the best judge of character, he just couldn't sense any malice coming from the man. Still, the young Saotome had enough experiences to know just how deceiving that an appearance could be.

"This place," Igor continued, his smile still wide, "exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that those who have entered a contract can enter. It seems to be that you have quite a fate awaiting you in the near future." The man paused, as if to let Ranma absorb his words. "Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Uh… Ranma… Ranma Saotome..." the young fighter answered, as if a part of him felt almost compelled to respond to Igor's question despite his confusion. Just how could this guy know so much about what kind of 'fate' awaited him in the future if he didn't even know his name? It was clear to the martial artist that something was purposely left vague which just made the young man feel muddled even more.

"A fine name!" Igor proclaimed, spreading his hands out and giving Ranma the first full view of his smiling mouth. If Ranma felt that the simple smile of Igor was more than a little creepy, a full, teeth showing grin made the pigtailed boy feel like he was gazing at a mad man. He was quite grateful when Igor took notice of this and covered his smile once again with his crossed fingers. "Now then, as you may have deduced, those chosen to enter the Velvet room are often faced with trials in the near future. As such, it is my job to provide assistance to our guests, to ensure they succeed. Though at times the future may look dark and hopeless, remember that there are those who will help you and to never give up."

"R-right…" Ranma responded, unable to help himself from smiling now. Though the young man loathed to admitting the possibility of him losing at anything, even he had to admit that there were others who simply out did him by skill and experience alone. The thought of someone willing to help him, with no ties or strings attached made him feel a lot more at ease around Igor then before. It probably helped that despite the mans frightening appearance, Igor seemed almost eager, perhaps even excited at the prospect of helping the martial artist.

"Ah! I've neglected to introduce my assistant to you!" Igor exclaimed, moving a single hand over to the side of the rocking ship, bringing Ranma's attention to a woman that he had, till now, not even noticed. She was an older woman, not quite as old as Igor but still clearly an adult, with striking blond hair done up in a bun. Glasses bridged her nose, behind them striking golden eyes that seemed to stare into his very soul. Clad in a velvet suit that matched the rest of the room around them, she seemed very much like a secretary in every sense of the word. "This is Caroline. She is a resident of this place, such as myself."

Caroline nodded at Ranma as she was introduced to him, a professional smile on her face that seemed to be lacking warmth. Ranma returned the nod, at least wishing to keep the woman neutral with him for the time being. A small hum from Igor brought the martial artists attention back to the older man, the smile on his face replaced with a small frown. "It seems we've taken up as much time as we've can, so we shall attend to our details at a later date. I shall leave you with these parting words, though. If there is one thing you must do to ensure your success in the future, you must assume responsibility for all actions that you may take. Until then, farewell…"

 _Wait, what?!_  Was all Ranma was able to think before he could feel his vision start to darken again, the Velvet Room being swallowed up as he blacked out.

~oOo~

"Daddy, she's waking up!" called out the voice, female this time, from the edge of Ranma's consciousness. For an ill moment, the young martial artist wondered if this was how it was going to be from now on; to have someone talking about him as he slowly started to reach the waking world. Then the exact words of the voice hit him. _She?_

At that Ranma groaned, memories flashing back to what had happened. The trip to China with his father, the cursed pools of Jusenkyo, the fact that said curses were now on them both. It made the now female martial artist clench her teeth, straightening up from her prone position on the floor, trying her best to ignore the feeling of two lumps on her chest that she hadn't had previously.

Eyes clearing much faster than they had in the Velvet Room, something Ranma was still trying to figure out, the young red-headed woman found herself surrounded by four unfamiliar faces. One belonging to an older man about her father's age with dark hair, a small mustache, and a rather dreary look about him, while the other three belonged to young women all about her age, each one sharing features with the man and probably his daughters.

"Good to see you're alright, my dear, you gave us quite a scare." The man said, smiling softly. "We were afraid that you weren't going to wake up when we saw you slung over that Panda's shoulder."

"Panda?" Ranma repeated, the memory of his father's cursed form coming into mind, the large panda more than capable of knocking her out when her back was turned.  _That's right; it was raining outside before we got into Nerima district, so it figures the old man would be transformed too._  "What happened to it?" she asked, gazing up at the man.

"Those nice gentlemen from Animal Control stopped by after I called them. They said that they would likely take it to the zoo after making sure it was healthy." The eldest of the three girls said, all with an air that made it seem like nothing could faze her at all. She smiled sweetly, tilting her head just a little as she did so, her pony-tailed hair slung over one shoulder.

It took all of Ranma's self-control to prevent herself from laughing out loud at the thought of her father getting stuck at the zoo in panda form. It would serve the old bastard right to go through some personal hell of his own after all the stuff he had put the young martial artist through. Smiling at the family and standing, Ranma nodded. "Well, thanks for your help, Mr…" she left off, realizing introductions were never made.

"Ah! How rude of me!" the man chuckled, a bit embarrassed that he had forgotten to introduce himself to the young woman they had helped. "I'm Soun Tendo, and these are my daughters, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane." The man said, nodding to each of his three daughters in turn, not noticing the slight stiffening from Ranma as he did so.

 _Tendo? This is the guy that Pop wanted to unite the schools with?_  Ranma thought, the memory of her father's announcement about the engagement surging to the front of her mind. While the red head was still entirely against the idea, Soun and his daughters seemed to be good people, with him taking care of her when he thought her hurt and in trouble. Most likely, they were taken in by her father just like all the others.

Not to mention that entire Velvet Room business that she now had to worry about. That was way too real for it to be a simple dream, not with the way the water moved and smelled, not with how it felt in there, and not with how she could recall every detail so clearly.  _Those who enter the contract are often faced with trials in the future..._  Ranma repeated to herself, recalling Igor's words. Just what did he mean about that?

"Miss? Are you sure you're alright?" Soun interrupted Ranma's thoughts, bringing her attention once more to the man, his face frowning in worry. "You seem to keep drifting off there."

Ranma couldn't help but blush this time, rubbing the back of her head habitually. "Sorry... just trying to absorb all this in." Soun nodded to this, smiling once more and putting the young fighter at a bit more ease. "That said, I think I should be leaving."

"Leaving? But you just woke up!" the youngest daughter, Akane, spoke up her face filled a bit with worry. "You shouldn't even be getting up after what you've been through, much less thinking of leaving!"

"I agree," The eldest daughter, Kasumi, added. "you should stay with us for a little while, at least until you're recovered. It would be cruel to send you out alone."

"But I..." Ranma started, a little put off by the generosity of these girls. She was used to much rougher responses from others, most of the time because her father had stolen or cheated them. "I can't stay here, I need to get back on the road..." she finished lamely, unsure of what else to say. As it stood, she didn't feel all that comfortable with doing the exact same thing her father had done for years. And with the thought of what Igor said... she couldn't just let anyone else involved in whatever was going to come up from that.

"Back on the road?" Nabiki, the middle daughter spoke up, raising a delicate eyebrow. "It figures that you were doing something like that, with how worn your clothing and shoes were. We were expecting visitors to stay with us anyway, even though they never showed up."

Ranma winced at that, knowing the truth of the situation. She was thankful then at the sudden explosion of tears and wailing coming from the father of the girls that prevented her from answering further, the man crying out. "I don't understand! Saotome said he would have been coming today!"

"There there, father, I'm certain something just came up with your friend." Kasumi said, doing her best to soothe her father down from his crying. Ranma could see Nabiki roll her eyes at the display while Akane huffed in annoyance, clearly thinking it beneath the old man to act so childish. "But what about this young lady? We can't just let her go back to traveling after all this."

"Well... you may be right, Kasumi..." Soun said, calming down lightly. "And it's quite expensive to travel about these days. You probably wouldn't get far without sufficient funds. So, if it's quite alright miss, you're welcome to stay here until you've completely recovered from the events and until you have the money to go... ah, where is it you said you were going to?"

"I didn't..." Ranma said, sighing lightly. These people were all too nice... too willing to help. It just made Ranma all that more confident that her father was in this all to probably cheat out Soun and his daughters and that this entire engagement thing was probably just a trick. She honestly wouldn't put it past the old fart.

Shaking her head, and knowing what she had to do, she looked over at the girls. "Would one of you mind getting me a kettle of warm water? I've got some explaining to do..."

~oOo~

Several transformations later, and Ranma was fairly certain he had covered just about everything. He had gone over his curse and how it happened, how he was told that there was no cure, at least in China if the guide was to be believed, and how he got separated from his father after leaving China. This last part was of course a lie, but more so then anything else, Ranma wanted to protect the Tendos from his father. Even if they didn't want anything to do with him after explaining all this, it was better then having them be taken in by Genma Saotome.

"But... you are still capable of uniting the schools, right?" Soun said hopefully after Ranma had finished with his tale, a bright look on his face. This was immediately responded by a loud "DADDY!" from Akane, who clearly didn't like the situation at all.

"While I am capable..." Ranma started, wincing as he earned a sharp glare from Akane, "I don't think it should be fulfilled, Mr. Tendo. Like I said before, my father tended to cheat or steal from nearly everyone we ever came across and always did the least amount of work he could get away with. I honestly don't want to go along with any of his schemes." Ranma relaxed as Akane lessened her glare, nodding in agreement with him. Apparently, she had been angry at the thought of Ranma still going through with the whole 'arranged marriage' idea.

"Besides, Father, what sort of man was your friend that he would get his own son cursed and then desert him in the middle of China?" Kasumi asked, her tone cool, the first real show of emotion outside of the sweet friendly one that Ranma had seen as of yet.

"True... It does sound like my old friend is following the path that our old master had gone, doing what was good for him at the expense of others..." Soun said with a frown, rubbing his chin, eyes glancing at Ranma. "Are you absolutely sure you won't?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Tendo, but it just doesn't feel right..." Ranma replied, looking down at the ground, not knowing what else to say. He wasn't exactly keen on the whole idea, and it was clear that the three sisters weren't all that happy with it either. It might have been a bit different, had Ranma a different father, one not so willing to lie and cheat his way to everything in life, but then there probably wouldn't even be an arranged marriage. Pulling one leg up to a crouch, the young martial artist prepared to stand. "Anyway, I won't take up your time any longer, so I'll see myself out."

"See yourself out? Why?" Kasumi asked.

Ranma stopped dead in his tracks, blinking up at the eldest Tendo daughter. "Um... so I can continue to look for a cure? I mean, if there's no set up marriage, there's no reason for me to stay here."

"Are you kidding?" Akane said, the tone and look of her face from the first time Ranma said he would leave still there. "You've been through hell because of your dad! You've been on the road for weeks if not longer! By all rights, you should be in bed!"

"Why, Akane, it sounds like you want him to stay. Does little miss 'I hate boys' actually care for one?" Nabiki commented with a teasing grin on her face, glancing over at her sister.

"It's not like that at all." the youngest sister responded with a turn of her face away from Nabiki. "I just don't think it's right to put Ranma out and have him continue traveling about, on foot no less, because of all the stuff his father did! Besides, he still got hurt from that Panda, remember?"

Between this tit for tat, Ranma stayed motionless in his half standing position. Even after telling them about his curse, the girls were still wanting to have him stay in the house with them? Not just wanting it, they were expecting it! Why were they so nice? "Um... are you sure?" he finally got out, bringing the attention of the entire Tendo household back onto him.

"Well, as I said before, you'll need some money on your travels, so you could stay with us until you get enough. And should you reconsider on the engagement..." Soun laughed waving down the angry looks from his children at that. "I'm only saying if he does... Well, we'll get to that if it comes, but regardless, we would gladly welcome you to stay with us, if you wish, Ranma."

Ranma couldn't help but gaze at the four of them, all of them, even the silent Nabiki who had mostly been giving the martial artist calculating looks, were all willing to accept him into their home and allow him to live with them. Such acts of kindness were far and few between in the young martial artists memory. Ranma smiled gratefully, nodding at them all. "Thank you..."

~oOo~

"School?" Ranma repeated, looking at Soun Tendo as if he had grown a second head in the last minute.

"Yes, Ranma, School." Soun responded, slowly taking a sip of his tea, placing it back onto the table that both he and the young Saotome were seated at. "If what you've told me about my old friend is true, he has grown to be more like our old master and has ignored the importance of a good education. While it might not exactly be considered important to the martial arts, it's always better to have a proper balance, isn't it not?"

"I guess..." Ranma nodded. The thought of learning something that didn't directly relate to the art felt a little weird to the young Saotome. There simply wasn't all that much he could benefit from school like he did the art, as you couldn't use math or literature to win a fight. With martial arts, he had become stronger, faster, more resilient, more capable them most of guys of his age and many that were his senior. He also learned the Neko-ken... was separated from some of the few friends he had made over the years... got his curse... Now that he thought about it, maybe it was a better idea to go to school.

"Besides," Nabiki said, from behind him, dressed in a light blue uniform with a skirt that hung down below her knees. "You'll be going to the same school as Akane and myself, so you won't be entirely alone. I'm heading out early, so Akane will walk you there." The middle sister apparently ignored the sudden shout from her younger sibling, leaving the youngest Tendo daughter to help Ranma. The two teens glanced at each other for a few moments longer before Akane made the motion for the male to hurry up so they could leave.

"So, why do you do that?" Akane asked while the pair made their way to school, looking up at the pigtailed martial artist now walking on the thin railing of the steel fence. She had nearly had a heart attack when he had leapt up onto it, and was surprised by the fact that he not only kept his balance on it, but was easily capable of walking on it as if it were sidewalk. To have such balance to do it without even thinking about it...

"Training." Ranma responded easily. "Pop was kinda insane with it, never letting a day go by without it. Hell, even meal times were all about training for the art, and there were nights where I would go hungry if I didn't protect my food well enough from the old man. Honestly, I think he did that more to stuff his face with what little food we had rather then train me." Ranma made a face at that last sentence, the thought of even his training being something that was corrupted by his father's greed leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

"Was he really all that bad?" Akane questioned, curious to learn about Ranma a bit more, as well as developing a strong dislike for his father.

"Well... It's not so much that he was a bad guy, Akane. More like he just didn't give a rat's ass about anyone but himself when it came to getting things and pushing me beyond my limits when it came to martial arts." Ranma sighed, looking up at the sky a bit. "Did ya know the reason we even went to those cursed springs in China was because he had read it in a book that they were good training grounds? A book that was entirely in Chinese and when translated warned people not to go there? It just didn't matter to Pop. If it would get him ahead or had to do with 'martial arts', he'd simply do it."

"But you clearly are skilled, far beyond most if what you're doing now is any evidence." Akane pointed out. "Isn't that worth something?"

"Yeah, it is. I  _am_  a martial artist after all. I guess it's more just looking back at all the crap my Pop did that upsets me more then anything." Ranma jumped down from the fence, seeing Akane turn away from it to go down a right turn. He followed, his focus still on Akane and about to speak again when a splash of cold water hit him, triggering the transformation.

"Shouldn't you have been able to dodge that if you're such a good martial artist?" the youngest Tendo daughter asked, raising an eyebrow at the cursed girl beside her, seeing the source of the water being a little old woman.

"My focus was somewhere else." Saotome responded lamely, trying to fight a blush on her face. With a sigh, the now female martial artist looked down at herself. "Looks like I might as well go home and take a bath, then."

"But you'll be late for school then!" Akane argued, frowning at the red-head. "If you're not wanting to start the school day as a girl, or reveal it to our classmates, all we need is hot water right?" Getting a small nod as an answer, the midnight-haired girl moved to a small clinic that was along side the road they had turned down.

 _What a way to start a day..._  Ranma thought bitterly, kicking at a loose stone on the ground in her annoyance. Not even half an hour out of the house and she'd already been transformed. What's more, she felt a little sick now, like she was about to get a headache or had gone the entire day without eating. She was wondering what else was going to happen that day when she felt the cold, bony fingers grip onto her shoulder which, in turn, belonged to a skeleton. "Oh, Pardon me!" said a man Ranma only just now noticed holding the skeleton, a bit after she had jumped out of her shoes and up against the brick wall that surrounded the clinic. "Ah, there's nothing to worry about, this is just my skeleton, Betty."

Ranma could only gape for a moment, unsure of what even to think. She was saved having to do so, though, by Akane returning with a kettle full of hot water. "Ranma, I have your... Oh! Doctor!" the midnight-haired girl gasped, interrupting herself in mid sentence. Ranma blinked, sliding down from her perch as she watched the youngest Tendo blush and bow to the skeleton man, absentmindedly handing the martial artist the kettle.

~oOo~

"So, who was that?" Ranma asked, once again male and now running along side Akane, the two much later then they had intended to get to school.

"That's Dr. Tofu, he's the local chiropractor and the owner of the clinic." the youngest Tendo responded, not losing her breath at all in the high speed run, something that Ranma noticed along with how she ran. She clearly had a lot of stamina, more then enough to put to good training.  _Maybe I should try and spar with her later today, see how she measures up to me._

"He's also a martial artist master?" Ranma said, more thinking aloud then anything, recalling how the man had surprised him. Erasing your presence entirely from others, particularly a trained martial artist, was among the hardest things to do in the art. The fact that this doctor had done it so simply struck an odd cord with Saotome.

"He's a martial artist, but I'm not sure about him being a master." Akane replied, gazing over at the pigtailed boy, curious at the questions. "I do know that he's very good, though."

The raven haired boy nodded, agreeing at least with that. Maybe it was time for Ranma to start taking his own training a bit more seriously if that was the case. It was as the old saying goes: no matter how good you are, there's always someone else out there that's better. "Isn't he a guy though? Thought your sister... Nabiki said something about you hating guys."

At that, the youngest Tendo went silent for a few moments, gazing down at the ground as if someone had scolded her. When Ranma was able to see her face again, it had contorted into a mask of anger, of someone greatly wronged. "That's right!" she growled, speeding up, forcing Ranma to do the same to keep up with her. "I despise boys!"

It was with that battle cry that the school of Furikan appeared into view before the running pair, and it was then that Ranma noticed a massive throng of male students all running at near the same speed as they were. But instead of heading towards the school, seeing as they could very well be as late as Ranma and Akane were, they were charging at the pair. It seemed like nearly all the male body was there, from near every facet of the school to boot. Football players, soccer players, boxers, chess players, even a few in martial arts gis were all charging at them.

"Get out of my way!" Akane shouted above the cries of 'Akane', 'They're all trying to beat you', and 'I'll beat you before they do', leaping over the closest trio of male students that had tried to attack her. Even as she had cleared those three, several more charged up, one in boxing gloves striking out from behind, which was retaliated with a duck from Tendo and a kick upward. At the same time, the young woman's fist had found the gut of another guy. He had looked normal in comparison to the others who wore their gear and equipment to fight Akane, but he had the same crazed look in his eyes as the rest.

The youngest Tendo growled, turning to fight another one of the boys only to find Ranma there already, giving a sharp uppercut to the jaw of one of the football players, laying him flat. "Ranma! This is my fight!" Akane scolded, jumping to dodge a swipe from a guy who had brought a chair of all things to attack her with, the girl spinning in the air to give her a foe a swift kick away.

"It's still all of them against ya, Akane!" Ranma shouted back, grappling one of the martial artists there and tossing him to the side in a judo throw, reading himself for the next opponent. "I can't just let ya fight them all on your own!"

Akane opened her mouth to respond to that, and nearly got it filled with the fist of one of the many males left standing. Growling, the young woman continued her assault on the horde, using the annoyance at Ranma to further her own attacks. Within minutes, the last of the males fell to the ground with a thud, Ranma and Akane standing in the middle of the defeated army.

"I told you that this was my fight!" Akane spat, turning to Ranma with a furious look on her face. The Pigtailed martial artist flinched back at the glare, having seen its ilk before from the discussion last night about marriages.

"I couldn't just let ya fight all alone, Akane..." the raven haired teen responded, frowning. He shuffled a bit on his feet, trying to think of the best way to put his words. "It ain't right to gang up in such numbers against another, especially with such overwhelming odds. I couldn't just stand by and let ya get swarmed."

Akane's gaze softened, if only a little, before giving him a hard serious look. "Alright, Ranma, but please, let me fight alone next time. I go through this every morning and I don't need help from anyone!" the young woman said, almost shouting those last words. Despite himself and the urge to argue against that, Ranma just nodded in agreement, wanting to pacify the youngest Tendo daughter. He'd rather not upset her if he could avoid it, not after how she and her sisters had accepted him last night.

"Such a boorish lot." Came a voice from beyond the fallen bodies of the male student body. Both teens turned to find a slightly older male, dressed in a kendoists outfit with short, black hair standing before them. He held a black rose in one hand, smelling it, while in the other was a long bokken "Evidently each of these fools intended to ask you out, dear Akane, on the dawn that he finally defeats you." the newcomer said, tossing the rose to the female.

"Only because that's exactly what you told them they had to do, Kuno." she growled, tossing the flower to the ground and stomping on it. "Now out of my way, I'm late for class as is and I'm in no mood to deal with you today."

"It's that fiery temper that so many find so attractive about you, my dear Akane." Kuno said, ignoring the destruction of his gift, raising his bokken towards her. "But we haven't had our dance quite yet, and I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure of dating me."

Ranma gazed at scene before him, unable to help but tilt his head to see if there was some illusion to what he was seeing and hearing. This guy basically told every guy in school that if they wanted to date Akane, they'd have to defeat her in a fight? And they believed him? Suddenly Nabiki's comment about Akane hating boys made a lot more sense. "Hey, Akane..." Ranma started, a hint of a growl in his voice. The thought of someone forcing the girl through that didn't sit well with the pigtailed martial artist, memories of his own trials flooding his mind.

"Back off, Ranma." the youngest Tendo hissed, turning her head just enough to give a glare at the male out of the corner of her eye. "I told you already this is my fight, not yours. Just stay out of it."

Ranma frowned, opened his mouth, thought better of it, and closed it again. Part of him wanted to just ignore what Akane said, to help vent some of his distaste at Kuno's actions. The other part of him, though, could see the amount of pride that the young woman had before him which probably matched his own. Ranma knew all too well had their situations been reversed, he would have probably told her the same thing. Kuno, noticing the interaction between the two, raised his bokken at Ranma, giving the pigtailed teen a scowl. "And just who are you, being so familiar with Akane? I will not stand for anyone to associate with her unless they have defeated her!"

"Ignore him, Kuno! If you're wanting to fight me, let's do it now and get it over with." Akane shouted, drawing the kendoists attention back to her, tossing her bag to Ranma before bringing up her hands into fists before her. The older teen smirked, brandishing his weapon towards the female and nodding, clearly ready for the fight just as a rumble of thunder sounded off from above. Ranma took that as a cue to move to a dry spot near the entrance of the building, having already changed once today and wasn't wanting to go through it again.

~oOo~

Had it not been for the fact that by now Akane knew that she would be late for class thanks to Kuno, the youngest Tendo daughter would have smiled at Ranma moving off to the side to watch the fight, even if it was clearly a reluctant maneuver on his part. The midnight-haired girl couldn't blame him either. She had been furious when she had discovered that Kuno had declared to one and all that should they want to date her, they'd have to defeat her in a fight. It was a small favor to use the 'Hentai Horde' as she had come to dub it as a wonderful source of stress relief on most days.

Kuno himself had always waited until after everyone else had been beaten into the ground before challenging her himself. Akane was almost certain that the junior year student thought he was being chivalrous. She believed that he was doing it just to wait until she was worn down by fighting the other students, leaving her less then at her best in fighting him. Even with that said, Akane had taken the kendoist down every single time, and today wasn't going to be any different.

With the sight of lightning splitting the sky, the kendoist let out a battle cry, charging towards Akane at full speed. His first slash at the girl was a near hit, the youngest Tendo ducking under the attack and bolting forward, her leg snapping out to trip her foe. Her foot found his ankle, nearly sending Kuno sprawling onto the ground.

He righted himself at the last moment, giving another shout as if it were to empower his attack, bringing it down in an arch from above his head. It cut deep into the wall that had been where Akane stood just moments earlier, the woman darting in and giving the dark-haired teen a quick one-two punch to his right side. The kendoist's grunt of pain brought a smile to her face as the youngest Tendo immediately rolled back and away, dodging out of yet another swipe.

"Skilled, as ever! I thirst to make you mine!" Kuno said, an almost lecherous grin on his face, even as he held his bruised side. If there was one thing Akane excelled at it, it was brute strength. Shrugging off the pain, the junior student thrust out his wooden blade, seeking as if to skewer the girl he sought. This was what Akane had been waiting for. She knew well that the air pressure that Kuno's bokken normally projected when he sliced or slashed wasn't as strong when he thrust forward. Without that threatening cut, it was much safer for her to retaliate with her bare hands. With a small shout of her own, Akane's hand thrust upward as the weapon neared, knocking it clear out of the upperclassmen's grasp, the wooden blade landing on the stone ground with a clatter.

Weaponless, the upperclassmen growled, trying to charge at Akane and grapple her with his own hands. All his efforts ended up getting him was a fierce kick in the gut with all of the strength that the young Tendo girl could muster behind it. The young girl watched as her powerful attack knocked her opponent head over heels, spiraling backwards until he hit a tree in the schoolyard with a heavy thud. Kuno gazed up at her for just a moment, his eyes burning before rolling into his head, the teen falling over in a faint. As if on cue to that, the rain that had been gathering in the clouds above started to fall.

"You go through that every day?" Ranma asked, watching the youngest Tendo sister walk to the doors, only getting the lightest bit wet from the now pouring rain. Akane nodded at him, sighing a bit as she took her bag back from the martial artist and whipped her forehead free of sweat. Kuno had attacked a bit more vigorously today, probably because the upperclassmen was trying to show off his power toward Ranma to discourage having anything to do with her.

With the rain falling down in a harsh torrent now, the pair of students entered into the school together, hoping that the rest of the day wasn't anywhere near as insane as the start of it.

~oOo~

A young woman sighed to herself in annoyance as she watched Kuno lay prone in the rain, defeated once again by Akane Tendo. He was too far gone, she knew. Too far into that state of mind that nothing, not even the proclamation of hate would make the kenodist realize that he wasn't wanted. Though to be fair, it wasn't his fault in the end. She looked up, shivering as she saw them again at the edges of the school grounds... the Shadows.

Tatewaki had ignored them, pretended they didn't exist, and in the end that just made the Shadows go after him more. They had thrown everything at him, terrors beyond thought, illusions of the world, disguises and even more. They couldn't touch him, not in the real world, but it was more then enough to drive him insane... with her only able to watch in the background as he fell. And when they had finished with him, they turned to her, his sister, to do the same as the only one in this area who could see the creatures.

Kodachi hadn't ignored them, and it was because of that, because of her trying to learn about these Shadows that she felt was the only reason she remained sane. That wasn't to say she wasn't affected by these things. She knew that if it were not for the Shadows, she wouldn't have become the Black Rose she was today. But she fought it... fought to remain in the world around her, to not fall like her brother, like her father... like her mother...

"Class," Came the voice of the teacher, breaking Kodachi out of her thoughts and bringing her attention to the front desk. "I'd like to introduce our newest student. Ranma Saotome here has come recently to us from China." The teacher went on, continuing to introduce this new boy, but for Kodachi, all else had stopped. This newcomer, this Ranma... was bright! He was giving off a literal glow that she could see, could almost feel! Never before had she seen something like this.

It was with that the Black Rose also noticed the lack of Shadows, how they had not crept into the room like they had before, to try and play their games and tricks on the young woman. Did they fear that glow that Ranma had brought with him, that he embodied? Did this boy have something that drove them away? Kodachi had to prevent herself from yelling out as the teacher sent both the boy of light and Akane out into the hall for being late. The moment the doors closed, she could feel the darkness, and even see it at the edges of the classroom, the incorporeal shadows once again appearing to her eyes.

 _That light..._  The woman thought, her gaze locked to the door.  _Just what is it, and how does it drive the Shadows away? I must know more... for my sake and the sakes of others._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings and Salutations, everyone, and welcome to Other Side of Me. This story was inspired by the thought I had while playing Persona 4 a few years back while also talking with a friend about my love/hate relationship with the Ranma 1/2 Series. Just what would happen to Ranma and the cast if they ended up fighting off their own Shadows, forming social links and the like. It resulted in this fic, though mostly because of real life and lack of writing drive, I've been horrible about updating it on other fandom sites. With renewed interest thanks to Persona 5 and renewed dedication thanks to some life experience, I'm hoping to change that, especially with Ao3 providing a ground for potential new readers. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this story and I look forward to your feedback!


	2. First Day Jitters

Soun Tendo hummed to himself as he looked down at the old Shogi board, frowning in disappointment. He and Genma had loved to play the game when they had the spare time back in the days when they trained underneath their master, Happosai. It was often one of the few escapes they had when faced with some of the more 'extensive' training that the man had made them go through. He had even gone to the extent of fishing out the old board from storage in celebration of the Saotome family finally arriving at the dojo after all these years. It pained the man to be without his friend, even with all the things that Ranma had said about his father. Soun believed a great deal of them likely true with memories of how little work Genma liked to do when it came to both hard labor and martial arts.

"Father?" Kasumi's voice came, drawing the man out of his locked gaze with the worn game board and bringing up to the face of his eldest daughter. "There's a call for you. It sounds to be one of the city council members."

"Ah, thank you, Kasumi." Soun said with a smile, nodding at his daughter as he stood up from the board. She returned his response with the same before returning to the kitchen, humming to herself as she prepared a meal for later on in the day. It made the head of the Tendo family's heart ache as he saw a bit of his wife in Kasumi, from her gentle nature to her graceful movements. He knew that she, out of all his daughters, would probably the best traditional wife. Though as all the children had been quick to point out every time, they were still much too young for such a thing. Still, he did hope that all of his girls would find that someone special for them, a small part of himself hoping that for one of them it would be Ranma. Making his way to the hall, Soun picked up the phone. "Hello? This is Soun." He called into it.

"Ah! Soun, it's Torikiri." the voice on the other end of the line responded, identifying him as one of the younger members of the city council. Though not quite a friend of the family, Torikiri was on good terms with Soun and was oft the one called upon to talk to the martial artist when matters of of the more violent nature needed to be discussed. He was also fairly open minded, more then willing to believe some of the more weirder events that had happened in the martial artists lifetime.

"Yes, what is it, Torikiri?" Soun asked, a little curious. The next meeting wasn't going to be for another week and a half, and even then, Tendo was often only invited if something requiring martial art prowess was needed. The inquisitive tone in his voice must have shown, as the man on the other line laughed slightly.

"Don't worry, Tendo, it's nothing really. I was just wanting to check up on you after that rogue panda appeared in your area." the councilman responded. "It's not every day that an animal like that is found around in the middle of Tokyo."

"Too true. In fact, I received word earlier this morning after my children left of school that the beast not only seems to be extraordinary healthy, but apparently is domesticated to boot. The zoo keeper is still quite amazed that it prefers more human style food such as noodles and the like to that of bambo." Soun couldn't help but chuckle at the image of the larger-then-life bear sitting at a table and eating noodles like that of a man.

"Well, weirder things have happened!" Torikiri said with a chuckle, before clearing his throat. "By the way, Captain Kurosawa said he would like to meet you sometime. Something about wanting to ask you a few questions about that disappearance of Mr. Ryokou that happened last week."

"The foreign actor?" Soun responded, confused. Xian 'China' Ryokou was one of his favorite foreign actors in the world, but that alone wouldn't qualify him enough to actually be brought onto a case of a policeman. "Just what would he need of me? I know nothing of the case and I don't think any of my skills as a martial artist would help any."

"I think that's just it. Kurosawa believes that someone of sufficient skill as a fighter that might be involved with it, said something about jumping several stories high. Not many people on the force will believe some of the crazier stories without a lot of proof. Kurosawa, though, apparently has been exposed to enough things to at least give it a chance and wants your word on it, since you're the most established Martial artist in the area and a respected member of the community."

"I see," Soun said with a frown, nodding to himself as he did. "It's certainly possible. Tell the officer he's welcome to the Dojo at anytime to discuss the case and that I'll do anything in my power to help solve it."

"I will, Tendo. See you at the next meeting."

~oOo~

"I can't believe I have to be in the hall." A grumpy Akane complained, rolling her shoulder a bit to try and lessen the strain of holding up the buckets of water her and Ranma had to carry. The teachers knew about what she had to deal with every morning, dang it, and they still sent her out into the hall should she be late. It made a dark part of the young woman glad that Kuno had to be sent to the nurse's office after the fight, just desserts for making her go through all this.

"Can't help but feel I'm a bit responsible, Akane." Ranma spoke up to her side, seemingly not bothered at all about their situation. "If I hadn't transformed on the way to school, we wouldn't have had to stop to get some hot water for me to change back. Then we probably could have avoided that entire mess."

"Maybe..." Akane admitted, feeling her temper flare a bit at the boy next to her. She didn't snap at him, though, knowing it wasn't Ranma's fault that he had been cursed and it was certainly not his fault that she got attacked every morning by the Hentai Horde. "I honestly blame Kuno more though. I probably wouldn't have to leave as early as I do every day if I didn't have to deal with him and the rest of those boys."

"Don't get why they're all after you like that just because of what that idiot said." Ranma mentioned with frown on his face.

"What does that mean?" Akane demanded, giving the pig-tailed martial artist a glare. "You think I'm not good enough or something?"

"Eh?" Ranma responded intelligently, before waving his hands before his face, the buckets of water sloshing about as he did so. "No, no, that's not what I meant at all, Akane. I may not know a lot about relationships, but even I know enough that you don't beat up a girl you like to go out on a date with her. Especially if some random guy said that's what you had to do."

Akane cooled a bit at Ranma's explanation, nodding at him. She honestly didn't understand herself why they did it, and had just come to live with it after it had started. At the very least she had shown, time and again, that she was capable of living up to that 'standard' that Kuno had placed onto her. Not once had she ever been beaten by anyone, despite coming in absurd numbers.

"So..." Ranma started, clearly searching for a change of subject of which Akane was grateful for. "Think after school's all done today, we could go and spar a bit back at the dojo?"

"A spar?" Akane parroted, her earlier anger completely forgotten now. What she had gone through this morning was usually the extent of what exercise she went through on a normal day, usually only working in her gi on the weekends or when she was in an exceptionally bad mood. It mainly stemmed from having no one to fight against on her level and no one beyond that to teach her.

"Yeah." Ranma responded with a nod. "I'm wanting to see how you compared to me, and I need to practice in my girl form anyway."

"Why won't you fight me as a guy? And what do you mean you need to practice as a girl?" Akane demanded, feeling her anger start to swell once more. She knew that Ranma had claimed to be a skilled Martial artist and she had seen hints of it when he walked among the railings of the fence as well as when he fought along side her against the Hentai horde. That said, she still didn't like anyone, especially a guy, flaunting that he was 'better' then she was.

"I don't like fighting girls as is, Akane." Ranma retorted honestly, looking at her directly in the eyes. "It's easier for me ta fight a girl if I'm one myself. As for the training, well..." He blushed, now looking away from her. "You've seen how developed my female form is. It's a lot different to fight with two heavy lumps added to your chest, as well as the wider hips. Let's not even mention the fact that I'm a good head shorter then I am now as well."

Akane nodded, even if she didn't like it. Truthfully, Ranma's female form was probably the most developed girl in the entire school, had the pig-tailed martial artist come in his cursed form. It was also a fact that the midnight haired girl knew that one had to fight differently with a woman's assets than with a man's, but did it really effect his abilities that much? "Well, just don't go to easy on me, Ranma." She finally said, coolly looking at him.

Ranma, surprisingly, just grinned at her. "If it's just a spar," he stated plainly, "Then there's no reason to go all out. After all, we push ourselves too much, those perverts might get a leg up tomorrow."

The youngest Tendo was simply taken aback by the response, no words issuing from her slightly opened mouth. Damn if she couldn't agree with what he said, enough so that she grinned despite herself in return to her fellow martial artist. Besides, wasn't it better to make friends then enemies? "Just a friendly spar then."

~oOo~

Kodachi Kuno couldn't have been more grateful to whatever Gods may have existed in the world when the male of Light returned to the classroom, banishing the Shadows once more. The black beings may not be strong enough to make themselves tangible in this world, but they were strong enough to alter her perception. Words couldn't be trusted, actions of student and teacher alike had to be suspect, even her very food could have been altered by the interference of the darkness.

But the Black Rose wasn't her brother. Unlike Tatewaki, she had observed these creatures, learned about their habits, the clues they left behind. Most of the time, she could tell when she was being tricked, when the world around her was lying. Piercing their veils didn't deter the Shadows, though, and they always returned with new ways to manipulate the young woman. She had feared when she, too, fell to the madness her family had come to embody thanks to the shades. But now... this light... this Ranma Saotome had come.

Just what about this Ranma had spurred away the monsters with nothing but his mere presence? He appeared ignorant of the Shadows, just as most were in the world were, incapable of hearing them, and immune to their dangerous powers. Only once before had she seen anyone with the power to push away the darkness, and it was clear that Ranma was unlike that at all. He had strength, yes, that was immediately apparent but it was unlike that of the one who had repelled the Shadows before.

_I must know more..._  Kodachi thought to herself, keeping her gazed locked with the pig-tailed man that sat roughly half the class away from her, next to the girl Akane that her brother was so infatuated with. She would follow them after class had ended, though she knew she couldn't be seen, not with the inability to explain herself or the situation.  _Let's just hope that something can be done with this boy_ _'_ _s light._

~oOo~

Ranma felt himself to be extremely lucky by the time class had ended for the day, students about him all packing their things. He had only transformed once into his female form, in the bathroom during lunchtime thanks to a faulty faucet. As luck would have it no one else was using the restroom at the time allowing the young martial artist to change back, keeping his secret. Otherwise, all of class had been remarkably quiet, the only other thing to note being a few of the boys coming up to Ranma to ask questions about his familiarity with Akane, of which the pig-tailed boy retorted with 'It's none of your business'.

Thinking of the young dark haired girl, Ranma turned his attention to her, finding Akane talking with two other female students. One of the girls gave Ranma a wide grin before tapping the other on the shoulder, interrupting her friends chat with the Tendo girl to draw attention to the Saotome. The two giggled and waved goodbye to the sputtering Akane, who then turned to give him a dark look.

"Let me guess," Ranma said as he walked up to her. "They think something's going on between us like the boys do, right?"

"Yeah, though you honestly can't blame them." Akane said with a scowl on her face, shoving things into her bag with little gentleness. "They find it weird that I have any guy friends at all. And if it's not that, it's some stupid little rumors!"

"Rumors?" Ranma asked, blinking. It was more the likely some form of girl gossip that Ranma really didn't care about, but he had stumbled upon more then one interesting things in his life thanks to following rumors that no body else would.

"Yeah, something about these weird patches of dark shadows or something like that." Akane said, finishing her packing and standing beside the pig-tailed martial artist. "They said that this guy in one of the other class rooms claims that he saw into this other world by poking his head into this shadowy spot over by the train station. Weird, huh?"

"Any weirder then a guy falling into a spring and changing into a girl?" Ranma said with a grin, even while keeping his voice low. The rumor was probably just that, but the teen just had to point out that there was living proof of the odd and weird things that could happen in the world right in front of her.

Despite herself, Akane couldn't help but let out a giggle and nodding in return to Ranma. "Good point, that is a bit out there. But patches of darkness that lead to other worlds? It sounds more like something out of a fantasy novel rather that could happen in reality, even considering your transformations."

Ranma nodded, having to agree to that at least.

The pair made their way home after that, thankfully without any further interruption from other students, be they friends curious about the pair or the Hentai horde wishing to strike at them. Ranma took to the railing of the fence again, though this time he made sure to keep an eye out for the little ladle lady, to make sure he didn't get splashed once again.

"Think you could teach me how to do that?" Akane asked him as they continued down the path homeward, drawing the pig-tailed martial artists gaze to her.

"Probably, Akane, it actually ain't that hard." He said with a grin back to her. "It's really all about balance, and once you've got that down this is easy. We'll see how your balance is once we get to the dojo and get changed."

The young woman nodded at that, and even picked up her pace. She was eager, he could tell, to test herself against him. To be fair, Ranma was as well. He had seen Akane's power, her strength, and knew at the very least she had some measure of skill. Maybe he might find an equal in the youngest Tendo, one whom he could train with on his level.

~oOo~

When Akane had entered the Dojo proper, Ranma could already tell the distinct differences between herself and the midnight haired girl. The first, and most obvious was their gis. While the Tendo girl's was fairly well kept and clean, Saotome's own was frayed, dirty, and patched up from heavy use over the years. It showed quite clearly their different experiences and it made the pig-tailed martial artist wonder if the young woman had ever been on a trip outside of the dojo at all to train. The second big thing Ranma noticed was how Akane was stepping. The redhead hadn't payed all that much attention to it before, but now with shoes off and on the wooden floor, she noticed how firmly Akane placed her foot, almost rooted to the ground. It was quite different to Ranma's own steps, which were light and tended to leave the floor as often as they met it.

"You ready, Ranma?" Akane asked, smirking at the female across from her, the midnight haired girl in a basic karate stance, hands curled into fists before her. Saotome nodded in response, her own stance lax, arms at either side of her body, not wanting to put up a proper one just yet.

With a small intake of air, Tendo charged, throwing a solid right punch forward towards her sparing partner. It was a miss, Ranma ducking to the left faster than she had expected, surprise evident in Akane's eyes. She didn't let the dodge throw her off, though, the midnight haired girl continuing the offensive with a round house kick towards the girls side.

Ranma dodged that too, though the pig-tailed martial artists eyes widened when she did. Had the cursed female not been trained for speed and agility, she would have surely been hit by the attack. As it was, she had only just barely dodged, her rather hefty bosom being a scant few inches away from the kick. A small part of Ranma's mind made note that she would have to be sure to compensate for her new assets by moving a bit faster in the future, if only to ensure her breasts wouldn't be caught in some future attack.

She could also see that Akane was starting to get a little frustrated with the constant dodging and, curious about just how much strength the young woman had, decided to block the next blow instead of avoiding it as Ranma normally did.

Said blow was a back kick, the young Tendo using the momentum of her missed roundhouse to do a complete three-sixty turn, striking out with the leg she had been standing on a moment before. In response, Ranma thrust down her hands to catch it, the cursed female wincing a bit as the attack landed. While she had certainly felt stronger attacks before, Akane's strength was nothing to be mocked and it was taking all of Saotome's strength to keep from being pushed back. Or was it just that her female form wasn't as strong as her male?

With a grunt of effort, Ranma lifted her sparing partners foot high into the air, her own foot lashing out to trip Akane. The maneuver struck and soon the youngest Tendo was airborne, though she was turning in the air, too fast for it to have been completely been a result from Ranma's attack. With an extra spin, the young woman landed with both feet firmly back on the ground.

"Nice recovery." Ranma said with a small gasp, grinning at her. Akane returned it, nodding with her own smiling face.

The spar continued on, Ranma continuing to try and gauge his partners skill level as the two girls clashed again and again. After learning of the power that Akane could put into attacks, Ranma opted back for evasion when ever she could, settling for deflection when it failed. And while Akane lacked the speed and accuracy, she was learning from Ranma's moves, predicting when the cursed martial artist would dodge and trying to strike at that new location instead, more then once forcing the Saotome Heir to block the powerful strikes.

She was also noticing the differences between her current form to her true male state. She was more agile as a girl, able to react and move faster then she thought possible. That plus her smaller frame made her harder to hit, which actually suited her style of fighting well enough that Ranma didn't mind the reduced strength. The shorter reach, however, would take some getting used to. Not grabbing or punching at the right areas could leave her completely open to counter attack, or even hurt herself. That would take some extra training to iron out, to commit it all to instinct.

Ranma called for the spar to end when, after a leap over her partner, Akane's fist went straight through the wall of the dojo with a loud crunch. It was a testament to the Tendo's girls strength that she didn't even wince when she had withdrawn her hand from the broken wood.

"You're pretty good, Akane." Saotome said with a small gasp, chest heaving a bit as she sought to catch her breath. "Though I think ya need to work a little bit on control there. A punch like that could kill someone if you're not careful."

"Sorry, I was getting kinda frustrated with your dodging there." the dark haired girl responded, her face flushing a little bit from both exertion and embarrassment. "I've just never really fought someone as fast as you, so I was trying to make every hit count."

"If you hit that hard when you're angry, it's not a surprise that Kuno was still out cold when we left school." The red head commented, unable to help herself but smirk just a little bit at the thought of the upperclassman getting smacked around that badly. "That said, I do think ya need to work on your speed a little, or if not that, your accuracy. Hitting hard is a good way to win a fight, but it won't help at all if you can't hit the target you're fighting."

"Yeah, I realized that about the twelfth time you avoided my attacks." Akane responded with a slightly annoyed tone. Ranma gave her an easy smile, to try and keep her calm. Even though the pigtailed girl was a better martial artist, she wasn't going to rub it into her face, not like she might do with some other fighters. It didn't pay to annoy one of the few people in the world who actually willingly allowed you into their home after seeing your darker secrets.

"Well, you were already compensating for your lack of speed pretty well in the end, Akane." Ranma said. "Trust me when I say training will just make ya better, though I do think your old man needs to stress a bit less on brute strength."

"Daddy hasn't trained me in years..." Akane said softly, her smile souring as she turned away from Ranma to gaze at the floor. "He just hasn't had the heart for it since Mommy died."

"Sorry, Akane." the red head apologized with a wince. She didn't mean to bring up such a sad memory, and the cursed girl felt now like she should have realized the lack of teaching in Akane's fighting style, how her movements were powerful, but unrefined. The fact that Tendo girl was that powerful without any formal training was a testament to just how strong she could become with just the proper master to guide her way.

"You couldn't have known, Ranma, so don't be something that isn't your fault." She said with a small grin, looking back at the pig-tailed girl.

Ranma nodded, placing her hands on her hips. "Well, at the very least, let me make it up to ya by helping ya out a little. I might not be a master, and I won't exactly put you through the same shit that my old man made me do, but at the very least, I'll teach ya what I know and train ya up a bit more." Ranma grinned widely, wondering just what Akane would be capable of with a proper bit of training under her belt. "We'll make it so that ya can beat the horde with one hand tied behind your back in half the time! What do ya say?"

The youngest Tendo blinked owlishly at her red-headed partner, before a slow, but wide eager grin crossed her face. "When do we start?"

~oOo~

Following the pair had been easier than Kodachi had thought it would be, all things considered. The shadows, even outside the school, feared the light that Ranma gave off, some of the weaker ones even falling over themselves to try and escape his radiance. Had this been any other occasion, the Black Rose might have delighted in their scattering. She couldn't lose track of what she came here to do, though.

Watching the pair enter the dojo, Kodachi bit her lip. She couldn't just walk in right behind them, not without a proper explanation as to why she had followed them home. The Black Rose wouldn't be able to stay outside for very long either. Without Saotome's light, the shadows' courage had returned, and already she could feel their powers tugging at her vision and mind. As luck would have it, though, she found a window to the dojo in the back, the young woman proving stealthy enough get there without most of the shadows noticing her.

Peeking inside, the gymnast was confused as she saw Akane train, not with Ranma, but with a red haired girl. Said girl had a bust that in Kodachi's own modest opinion didn't belong such a lithe girl, particularly one clearly skilled in the martial arts. What confused the Black rose even more was the fact that this girl was bright, just as much as Ranma was! How could it be that there were two people with the same light and power that Kodachi had never seen before? Saotome made sense, at least. He had only just recently arrived from China. But this new girl? Had she somehow recently come into the brightness? Or was it by some force that the shadows had somehow covered the redhead's light from Kodachi's gaze until she stood right before her, fighting away their influence? Either idea left a bad taste in her mouth.

After the Tendo girl put her fist through the wall, which made Kodachi wonder if she had held back at all against her brother or if Tatewaki was a great deal more durable then she gave him credit for, the two talked for a little. The pair were too far away for her to hear even muffled conversation. It seemed to make the midnight blue haired girl happy, though, as she grinned liked the cat that had eaten the canary before she left the dojo, the red headed girl in tow.

Kodachi could feel her body shiver without that comforting light, part of her mind wondered if she was becoming addicted to it. For all her effort in learning about the shadows that plagued her family minds, the moment she found a way to escape their terrors and tricks, she became as weak as her brother, clinging to it like he did to the idea that Akane actually wanted to date him. Focusing her mind, she turned away from the Tendo household, narrowing her eyes as she saw a beast before her with large fangs, claws, and a hulking form. The only thing that gave away it's true nature was the bright yellow eyes that it glared down at her, drool dripping from it's maw. Knowing it could not harm her, could not touch her, the Kuno woman walked past the beast, knowing it to be another weaker shadow. She would have to prepare for the return of the stronger ones, now that Ranma's purifying light was no longer near.

~oOo~

Training with Ranma started the very next day. Up an hour before Akane's normal time for her morning work out, the heir to the Saotome school had pulled the slightly crabby Tendo girl out of her warm bed. When she had thought to complain to her cursed sparing partner, giving the redhead one of her trademark glares, Saotome had pointed out that she had wanted this. "I know I wanted this, but this is so early!" the youngest tendo had pointed out in response, pulling her protesting body from under the covers.

"Pop got me up earlier, and he usually did it with a bucket of cold water to make sure I would fight him, even if it was in anger. I could always do that instead if you want me too." Ranma said, a large grin on her face, an easy sign to see that she would do it willingly, if only to see someone else in the same situation she had been in for years. With one last gripe about the early time, Akane got up and into her training gi.

At first, the young Tendo had thought that maybe they were going to do the fence walking first, but that was quickly pointed out to be a bad idea by Ranma. "You've got balance, Akane." she had pointed out. "But not to the point where you'd be able to walk on that easily or quickly. It would be better to do that once we've got it to the point where you can walk on it as easily as if it were sidewalk."

The pace that they ended up with was a good deal beyond what the youngest Tendo was used to. Compared to her rather normal jog around the block a few times, Ranma had them go all the way to the school and back at a full run, not even stopping at Furinkan before turning right around for home. More then once, the heir to the Saotome school had to slow her own speed and urge her along, the readhead's breath heavy, but steady in comparison to the dark haired girl's own labored breath. In any other situation, Akane would have snapped at him not to baby her. As it stood, the young Tendo girl simply pushed past her exhaustion.

Her performance during the spar when they returned to the dojo was pitiful, the pain of tired legs leaving her stance a great deal weaker, her slowed punches incapable of keeping up with Ranma's lightning fast reflexes. It was obvious, even to the midnight-haired girl, that her partner didn't even need to pay attention to her attacks to avoid them. "We've definitely going to have to work on your stamina, Akane." The red head commented, finally finishing the spar by settling back into a standing position. "Above all else, you need to have the energy when you're wanting to be a martial artist. Speed, Strength, Special attacks.  _None_  of it matters unless you've got the energy to back it up and last long enough to put it to good use." The midnight haired girl nodded in agreement between gulps of air, too drained to think of any other response.

Never had the furo look so appealing to Akane then after all the training had finished for the morning. The Saotome Heir had hinted that there would be more training even later, but she wouldn't push the youngest of the Tendos too hard. The cursed girl said she knew how easily it would be to harm a body that wasn't used to her extent for training. And to get ahead of any arguments Akane might have had about it, Ranma mentioned that if redhead was her father, the Tendo girl would still be training now, likely with added insults from the strict Anything Goes Master.

Breakfast helped rejuvenate some of Akane's strength, and not for the first time did the youngest Tendo suspect that Kasumi payed more attention then anyone knew, as she not only had made Akane's favorite for breakfast, but also gave Ranma a thermos filled with hot water. She simply smiled at Ranma's questioning look and said "It's better to be prepared then not, isn't it?" before leaving to continue her work about the house. The look on his face, a cross between looking grateful to Kasumi for the idea and angry at the fact that he hadn't thought of it himself, was enough to have Akane bite back her urge to laugh all the way to school.

~oOo~

The pair of martial artists were surprised when they got to school, the Hentai Horde absent from their usual grand standing before the high school gates. When Ranma had asked about it to another student, he had said that the horde had unanimously decided to give Akane a day or so to cool off. The reasoning became obvious when the pair discovered that Kuno was still recovering from their battle of the previous day, the upper classman injured to such an extent that he wouldn't even be in class for at least another three days. Ranma didn't even need to turn to look at Akane to know that she was likely remembering what he had told her the day before about control. Hopefully seeing the effect of her actions would serve as a better lesson then Saotome's words.

Class itself was still as boring as ever to Ranma, the droning of this particular teacher making it difficult to stay awake. Why was he going on about weird magic in what was supposed to be a math class anyway? Glancing around the room, the martial artist noticed he wasn't the only one, with at least a handful of other students already passed out against their desks. Even Akane seemed to be fighting against her drooping eyelids, her head dipping once or twice, making Saotome feel a little better about his own lack of attention. With the teacher continuing to go on about gods and other oddities, Ranma continued to let his focus wander about the class room, only for it to come to a dead stop upon a student in the back of the room.

She had black hair, tied up in a ponytail that was pushed to one side of her head instead of behind. Her features were angular, sharp, giving her a distinctly predatory look that was further defined by those piercing, unblinking eyes. It was those eyes that had stopped Ranma, not for their beauty or their color which was a shocking light grey-blue, but by whom those eyes were locked to... namely himself. The girl didn't even break her gaze once she noticed Ranma staring back, instead opting to synchronize her eyes with his. For a brief moment, the Martial artist felt trapped, like he wouldn't be able to break the stare if he wanted to. It was only by one of his classmates moving in front of him, signaling the end of the class, that freed Ranma. Once they had passed, the girl had vanished, no longer sitting across the room.

"Ranma, are you alright?" Akane asked, startling the martial artist a bit. "You've looked like you've just seen a ghost."

"I'm... not sure, Akane..." Ranma said uneasily, looking up at the youngest Tendo before returning to the empty seat of the sharped eye girl, wondering for just a moment if he had just been imagining things. A rather sharp chill that went down his spine seemed to tell him that he wasn't.

"Well, I'm heading out on break with my friends, want to join us?" the midnight-haired girl questioned, tearing the young martial artist once more from his gaze at the empty desk. The Saotome heir nodded, deciding that for now, it was best to put such things out of his mind as he grabbed his backpack, joining the girl to enjoy the warm day outside of the stuffy school. Perhaps the fresh air would ease his frazzled nerves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the first things that I've heard from reviewers when this story was originally posted is how Ranma's fairly out of character. While yes he's acting different then he would in the manga, you've got two major things to consider about why that is. The lack of Genma Saotome and the acceptance of the Tendos. Without Genma to enforce things or to force his son to go along with his own plans, Ranma is more then able to stick to his own honor, something that he shows quite often in the earlier bits of the Manga. He first tries to leave the Tendos, trying to spare them from his families involvement all together and then tries to show them what's happened to him, again with goal in mind to leave them be. Ranma knows some of what lengths Genma's willing to do to get ahead at this point in the Manga and is more then willing to spare a family he sees as kind from having to deal with it.
> 
> Then we get the fact that Akane and her sisters are willing to still have him in their house, knowing both what Genma's plans were AND his curse, and we've now got our cursed martial artist who feels indebted to them all for their actions. Few people have ever willingly gone out of their way for Ranma like that and it's one of the reasons Ranma's walking around Eggshells with Akane, especially after seeing how quick she is to anger. Between these major differences and the actions of the shadows we'll see in later chapters, I think Ranma would hold much more to honor then he does in the Manga.


	3. Darker Impulses

t took Ranma a bit longer then he would have liked to ease his nerves from the odd girl he had seen in the classroom. He wasn't really scared of the girl. Ranma Saotome never gets scared! But the words from his dream with Igor still lingered on his mind about those who entered the Velvet Room. Could this girl have anything to do with the man's warning? Or was he just being paranoid about a dream that, in all honestly, could mean nothing at all? If the whole thing just hadn't felt so real, the pigtailed martial artist would feel a lot better about brushing such thoughts aside.

"You're spacing out again, Ranma." Akane said, breaking into his thoughts for the third time since lunchtime had started. The pigtailed teen blinked, his blank stare to the sky broken as he turned his attention back to the youngest Tendo and her friends, both of whom were staring at him with a bit of amusement on their faces. Yuka and Sayuri both were extremely interested in the Saotome heir, though it seemed more for gossip and a bit of ogling more than anything serious. It wasn't the first time a girl would have looked at Ranma like that, but for the most part he just ignored it.

"Sorry..." Ranma mumbled, trying to put an easy smile on his face. "Just had something on my mind that was bugging me."

"Would it be about that weird dark spots that some of the other students were talking about?" Sayuri asked, though clearly she had a different question in mind, if the way she had near drooled all over her desk when the martial artist had first arrived at school had been any indication. Thankfully Akane had flat out forbid either girl from asking prying questions about Ranma. Neither of the two students wanted it to be widely known that they were living together, even if it was just because Saotome had nowhere else to go.

"Not that stuff again..." Yuka said with a twinge of annoyance in her voice. "I can't believe anyone is taking that silly story seriously! Dark spots, other worlds. You act like everything is one big manga at times, Sayuri!"

"I'd LOVE for the world to be one big manga!" the long haired girl said, her eyes going starry. "It would be so cool, having magical powers, fighting evil doers, finding that special someone just for you." The girl left off with a small grin towards Ranma at that last bit, which caused the young martial artist gulp a bit. He didn't exactly need anyone chasing after him.

"What exactly is with these spots I keep on hearing about?" Akane asked, though from her tone and the way that she glared at her friend, the youngest Tendo wasn't exactly pleased with the look that Sayuri was giving Ranma. "People can't really be taking this whole 'portal into another world thing' seriously, are they?"

"Who knows?" Yuka replied, interrupting Sayuri before the girl could go on about them, the brunette clearly not wanting to hear more about what her lighter haired friend was going on about. "All I know is that it's all that I've been hearing about for the last few weeks. You'd think some people be more realistic then that!"

Ranma rolled his eyes as Yuka and Sayuri continued to bicker over the whole conversation, glancing over at Akane, who was just shaking her head at her friends. Apparently, this was a more common event then the midnight-haired girl would have liked. The Saotome heir couldn't help but wonder just how prevalent this rumor was. This was the second time in as many days that it had been brought up. Was it something that was really happening? Igor's words about a future fate once again rose up in his mind and the martial artist had to suppress a shiver.

Lunch came to an end soon enough, by which the two arguing friends had more or less made up with each other. The dark haired teen wondered how normal it was for friends to fight like that. Ranma had very few friends growing up, mostly thanks to his father's constant moving once he had been caught stealing something, but the few he remembered were often nice to him and others, not fighting like Yuka and Sayuri had been. Maybe it was just different with girls?

Reentering the classroom instantly brought Ranma's eyes to the seat the girl from before had been in, though he was somewhat relieved to find it still empty. At least he wouldn't have to worry about the sharp-eyed girl looking at him during the rest of class. Akane and the others soon took to their own seats, the teacher coming in and going over their next lesson. It only took a few minutes before Ranma was paying attention more to the back of his eyelids than anything else.

~oOo~

_Just what ever possessed me to do that?_  Kodachi asked herself as she fled the classroom, moving with a speed that surprised even her. The light that Ranma gave off was comforting, almost divine, beyond the sway it held over the shadows that plagued her. There was little she could do but stare directly at him when he entered the room and when he stared back at her... that power had intensified to the point that the woman felt like no darkness would ever touch her again. To never leave that embrace...

Such wonderful thoughts instantly soured when the Black Rose came to the realization that she was becoming as obsessive as her brother. The added image that her mind gleefully supplied of her chasing after Ranma like Tatewaki did the Tendo girl made the dark haired woman's stomach heave. No... two insane Kuno in the world were enough without adding herself to their antics. Shaking her head to try and clear away that depressing thought, Kodachi brought her focus back to the world about her, and to the shadows.

The creatures of darkness had never really been prevalent around the school. Sure, they would warp her mind, change what she could see and understand, but for the most part none of them held enough power or sway to do much. The young woman never understood exactly why they didn't have the strength here, but she guessed it was perhaps linked to the density of people. Even if no one had the light to compare to Ranma, enough positive energies was enough to offer some protection. But even so, the beasts liked to play their tricks, to deceive the one who could see them. It was that constant doubt, the fact that anything could be changed at a moment's notice that drove her brother insane.

Kodachi couldn't help but feel a little grateful that only the weak ones appeared before her now. At their best they were dumb, slow, and held little power to change the world about her. It was only their numbers that the Shadows often held that could ever make them feel threatening. Moving down the other hall to avoid a pair of them, the Black Rose wondered once more about what she was going to do with the Saotome boy. She would have to approach him sooner or later about that Light of his... but how to do it without coming off like her brother?

The woman continued to wander the school, running through different scenarios in her mind. But no matter what idea she thought of, she just couldn't think of a way that would allow her to confront Ranma without him brushing her off as insane. There was no way to delicately broach the subject of creatures with reality warping powers that could only be seen by those cursed with such a power. Then again, she'd much rather no one else have to deal with the shadows, remembering a time when they were able to affect the real world. Such memories, dim as they were, could always make the young woman scream in horror when they replayed as nightmares when she slept. The sudden sound of the schools bell ringing through the building brought her focus back to the real world, the young woman blinking up in surprise. Had she really wasted the entire lunch hour wandering the school in thought?

Chest heaving with a sigh, Kodachi made her way back to the classroom. A small frown crossed her face when she noticed that she was the last to arrive, the teacher giving her a small look through shaded glasses. Why was wearing such dark things inside? The fact that Ranma was missing from his normal seat also put the Black Rose at unease. Why hadn't he returned yet from lunch?

"Kodachi!" the teacher snapped, making her jump. "To your seat, if you please."

The Kuno girl nodded, but her movement was slow. Something was off, something about all this that yelled out to her, telling her something was wrong. She stepped lightly, moving forward before stopping a good five feet from her seat. She could feel it... there! A cool breeze, reflecting the nice spring weather, brushed past her face and against her arms. But that was impossible, her seat was nowhere near a window, so she shouldn't be feeling this unless...

Almost instantly the shadow's illusion faded away, revealing the truth to Kodachi. She wasn't in the classroom as she had been lead to believe, but atop the school at the very edge of the roof. Had she taken just one step more, she would have fallen of the very edge. The Black rose gasped as she jumped back, her momentum continuing back until she came flush against the door that led back inside the school with her body shaking.  _The shadow tried to kill me!_

Most shadows, before this point, had been like beasts: They were more raw emotion and action then possessing any form of real intelligence. The weaker shadows couldn't even conceive that the Kuno girl would flat out ignore them if they just took a monstrous state, while the stronger ones could only change small aspects of the world around her, usually words or objects but little more. No normal shadow would be able to do this, at least not the kind that she was used to dealing with. Kodachi's body continued to shake, though this time out of fear. The last time Kodachi had experienced this level of darkness, had borne witness to that kind of power from the Shadows, had been the day her mother died.

~oOo~

The end of class came swiftly enough, more thanks to Ranma sleeping through most of it than anything else, and soon the Saotome heir found himself walking beside Akane and her friends, the group of four leaving the premises. After giving a small stretch worked out the stiffness from his impromptu nap, the marital artist blinked as instead of heading back to home, Akane had turned towards to opposite direction with her friends. "Hey, Akane, where are you going?" he asked, confusion coloring his voice.

"Mmm?" The girl said for a moment, before breaking out in an embarrassed smile. "Oh, sorry, Ranma! I completely forgot I never told you what me and the girls do every week."

"Yeah, we can't always get together when we'd like to." Yuka explained with a small shrug. "So we made a plan that once a week, after school and before we had to do anything else, we'd go down to the shopping district to hang out for a little while, maybe find something worth buying."

"You could come with us if you want." Sayuri added, ignoring the slightly sharp looks from her friends that she got for saying that, causing her to add "You're still new around the area, so it would probably help to know where everything is, wouldn't it?"

"Well, you make a good point..." Akane relented before nodding at the suggestion. "Well, what do you say, Ranma?"

"Well, as long as I'm not a bother..." the pigtailed martial artist replied, a bit uneasily. He wasn't exactly wanting to give Akane any more trouble than he already had. It didn't help that Ranma was entirely unused to stepping lightly around people like he was with her. But she and the rest of the Tendos had brought him into their home, even knowing both his curse and the horrible actions of his father, and treated him with far more respect than Saotome heir had ever gotten before. It was only honorable to return his treatment the best he could. He had learned all too well from his old man just what constant abuse and friction could do.

"Not at all!" Sayuri said with a grin, before dashing ahead of the group. "Come on! I heard there should still be a sale going on!"

"Hey! Don't run ahead!" Yuka shouted, following her friend with an annoyed growl. Akane simply sighed, shaking her head as she and Ranma started after them, both martial artists knowing that they'd be able to catch up to the two more then easily enough. It was a wonder, though, that neither of them had noticed the figure following behind them.

~oOo~

The shopping center was a bit smaller then Ranma had expected when the quartet finally found each other again, being mostly a straight line down the road with different stores of varying products dotting each side. It was nothing like the wide landscape of the amazon's trading plains or even like the malls he had seen in other cities. A nagging thought in the back of his head told the martial artist that he was likely more used to such places because his pop had an easier time stealing from a place where it was hard to miss one or two items.

The girls all headed straight for a store at the furthest end of the district, which turned out ice cream parlor. Each girl got a cone, giggling and laughing as they ate it. Ranma declined any for himself, not wanting to take Akane's money for it, and simply hung out by the three. He continued to watch the youngest Tendo girl talk to Sayuri and Yuka while leaning against a tree and wondered once again if this was what it was like to have a normal life. Being able to talk and hang out with your friends, eat ice cream, to not worry about being run out of town because your father decided to take something not his. Not that the Saotome heir would want to trade his skill for a normal life. He had worked too hard and gone through too much to become the fighter that he was today. But that thought of what he missed, along with the knowledge that his father style of training was arguably among the worst, made the teen wonder what would have happened had he a different master throughout the developmental years of his youth.

Sadly, Akane's own training wasn't the best to compare to. When her mother passed away, Soun had apparently just about lost the will to live, much less train in the art. Akane had been teaching herself for who knew how long. It made the young Saotome think that he should be even further impressed with the young woman on how far she had gone with her training with no proper master, as even a bad master like Genma was better than none at all. She wasn't up to his skill level, not enough for him to spar against her without holding back, but maybe with a little bit of training he'd have someone who could match him. Akane also had probably the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her face when he suggested to train her.

After the girls were done with their ice cream, the four spent the rest of the time mostly window shopping. Ranma didn't exactly have much money to spend as it is, and for the most part, it looked like Akane and her friends were mostly just seeing what caught their eye than anything else. At least once, Sayuri had tried to corner Ranma and learn a bit more about the martial artist, but Yuka quickly intervened under the guise of showing her friend a sale on some shoes. It made the Saotome heir more than a little grateful that at least one other girl outside of the Tendo sisters wasn't being completely obsessive about wanting to know more about him.

Sooner then he would have thought, the three girls were saying their goodbyes to each other, with Sayuri giving Ranma the 'call me' hand sign before her friend was able to drag her off towards home. "Gotta say," the martial artist said as he watched the pair round the corner and out of sight. "It's kinda cool you guys do something like this."

"Yeah, we started it up ages ago..." Akane said, though her thought trailed off. Ranma turned to the youngest Tendo, about to ask what had inspired these outings when he noticed the slightly sad look on her face. For the second time in as many days, the Anything Goes heir winced as he realized he had brought up bad memories for the youngest Tendo yet again. It made sense for Akane's friends to try and do anything to cheer her up after mother's death. And while Ranma doubted a shopping spree was necessarily the answer to that, it was clear that the midnight haired girl treasured her moments with her friends.

Any attempt on Satome's part to get the midnight-haired girl out of her funk was interrupted by a shrill shriek, bringing both their heads up with a jolt towards an alleyway roughly half a block away. "Did you just hear-?" Akane started, her eyes wide in surprise.

"A scream!" Ranma finished, already running towards the source. Ranma couldn't help but feel a grin cross his face when he noticed Akane just a step behind him. Not everyone was willing to rush headlong into unknown dangers when they heard someone in danger. The fact that the youngest Tendo didn't even give it a second thought or try to call Ranma away from the yell told the Saotome heir that even if her training was lacking in comparison to his, the youngest Tendo held true to the ideals he had been taught... ideals that said teacher never kept.

Rounding the corner of the alley, the pair stopped dead as they were greeted by a scene that was like something out of a horror movie. The space between the buildings was a long stretch of brick that ended in a box like shape towards the end, though instead of just being a flat wall like it should be, there was a huge swirling black vortex in its place. At the maw of the darkness, its form half swallowed by the entrance, was a towering human like figure with ebony skin so dark it was almost featureless. Atop its face as a dark blue mask, pushed up so that a mouth and mustache could be made out, the hair a sickly red. To complete the total ensemble was what appeared to be a white speedo that served as the creature's only article of clothing. Even with as out of place as the thing was, though, nothing could distract the martial artists from the squirming girl in its grasp, her mouth covered by a huge meaty hand. Ranma's eyes widened as he recognized the girl, the same one who had stared at him during class. Only this time, instead of intensity, it was terror that she held within her gaze, her arm reaching out to him and Akane just as she was pulled into the inky darkness of the portal.

Ranma reacted instinctively, dashing towards the portal. He just barely heard Akane yelling out from behind him before he jumped through the dark entrance. A swirl of black and white swam before his vision as the world gave out beneath his feet. He fell for what felt like a minute before ground appeared before him. Curling his body, the martial artist went into a roll as he landed, cushioning the force of his fall. The sound of another form landing behind him told Saotome that the youngest of the Tendos had followed after him.

Had it not been for the fact that they had just gone through a portal to chase of some creature, the area about the pair would have looked bizarre to the martial artists. They had been dropped into a stadium, with long bleacher like seats of metal reach out to either side of them. They were bolted directly into the ground, with each new set appearing above and behind the previous, going up alongside a long flight of stairs. The same had been done in every corner of the room, all with the exception of the absolute center, which held a large square raised platform that Ranma recognized as a wrestling ring. The fact that everything about them seemed faded, almost muted in color didn't sit well with him either.

"Where are we?" Akane asked, bringing the Anything Goes Heir's attention back to his sparring partner. Though clearly uncomfortable with the unusual surroundings, the midnight-haired girl was on guard, ready to fight should anything dangerous come their way.

"Not sure... but we gotta find that thing. Who knows what it might be doing to the girl it kidnapped." Ranma replied, motioning down to the ring.

He could just barely make out what looked like to be an entrance through the stone wall that supported the bleachers above the ring, giving whatever audience it was meant to hold a perfect view. The raven-haired teen pointed to the entrance, bringing the young Tendo's attention to it. She nodded in agreement, the pair jumping down from the stands, heading inside the opening. The long hallway was empty, with little features beyond a single light-bulb in the ceiling every couple of feet which only provided the dimmest of illumination. The sound of their footsteps echoing within the corridor made the dark place feel even more foreboding, as if they were treading where the living where not welcome. After what felt like ages the surroundings about them changed, entering into what looked like a locker room.

Ranma frowned as they moved further into the odd room, the metal of one of the nearby lockers seeming false, almost as if it wasn't really there. Moving a bit closer, the Anything Goes martial artist pressed against it with the flat of his palm and was rewarded with the entire thing falling over to reveal that it was made out of wood and painted cardboard.

"It's fake?" Akane asked, her voice low and quite, as if she were afraid that speaking any louder might bring something terrible upon them.

"Yeah, looks like it. I think most of this place is like this... it's almost as if it were a set, like something for a play." Ranma replied with a frown, recalling having seen something similar one of the few times he actually was enrolled in a school by his father. But why would there be props like this for a play here? And where  _was_  here exactly?

A sudden sound startled the two, like a crash and Ranma instinctively pulled Akane behind the lockers to hide. There was no telling if there were going to be more of those creatures that had kidnapped the girl, and the dark-haired teen wasn't going to let anyone get the drop of him, even if a small part of him rankled at the idea of acting like his father.

After a few moments, another sound echoed through the otherwise silent room, though this time it was the light, quick sound of footsteps. Knowing they couldn't belong to the large kidnapper, Ranma looked out from their hiding place, catching a glimpse of the sharp-eyed girl from their class, running like her life depended on it. She sped past, not even noticing the two, as she headed the way the pair had just came.

"Ranma, that was Kodachi!" Akane whispered, watching the girl disappear from view.

"Kodachi?"

"She's Kunos sister! Why would that weird thing want her?" the youngest Tendo asked. She soon wished she hadn't as a large mass of darkness without any real form shot out from further in the locker room, chasing after the fleeing girl. Ranma and Akane looked at each other for only a moment before nodding, giving chase after it.

~oOo~

Kodachi gasped for air as she continued her flight away from the Shadow. She could feel her lungs burn from the constant running, from the escape from the beast, and she knew that it had cost her when she had escaped from the creature. Her school uniform was horribly ripped and torn, with blood trailing down her legs. She could feel her limbs gave out as she reached the ring, causing her to tumble heavily onto the ground. Her face, too, was marred with blood flowing from her right temple along with bruises and dirt. Arms shaking with weakness, Kodachi gazed behind her, eyes widening with fear as the dark form appeared. Two shining pair of bright yellow eyes formed in the swirling mass of shadow, glinting at the female. It started to reach out for her, a shadowy hand taking shape only to have a pair of feet slam down on it. The beast hissed out, more in anger and confusion then pain, as it saw the attacker leap off and land in front of it. The hiss became a growl of rage, noticing the boy of light had not only followed them, but seemed just as strong here as he did in the real world.

"I don't know what the heck you are, ugly," Ranma growled, fists clenched in an aggressive stance, aura flaring. Akane moved alongside him, her own stance taken. "But that ain't no way to treat a girl!"

"N-no..." Kodachi croaked from behind them, coughing heavily. "G-get away! It's too dangerous!" Even with the power to ward off the shadows, there was no way for the martial artist to fight one!

"Don't worry, Kodachi, we got this!" Akane said, turning to give the girl a reassuring smile before turning back to the mass of darkness before them.

The shadow growled once more, deciding it had enough. With a glint of its eyes, the mass began to shift and change before their eyes. Its body grew thick, large arms of muscle forming and grasping into the air. The meaty palms slammed into the ground beneath the mass, pushing it up enough so that a pair of legs could grow for its balance. The remaining mass of darkness soon took a more defined shape, becoming a muscular torso on top of which a masked head formed. Once again, the martial artists found themselves face to face with the kidnapping creature from before. A grin crossed the now humanlike shadow's face before it charged, bringing down its meaty fist on top of Ranma. The Saotome heir leapt back right before the fist landed, eyes widening when he saw the floor give way underneath the massive fist, the ground spider webbing with cracks. He didn't think the shadow would be THAT strong.

Akane charged forward, driving her own fist into the creature's stomach before it could fully retract its fist from the ground. The beast grunted out, but otherwise appeared unharmed as it swatted out at the Tendo girl, missing the girl by scant inches. "Damn, that thing is tough." She said as she retreated beside Ranma. "I threw all my strength behind that."

"Yeah, but it's slow." Ranma replied, watching the thing stand up at its full height, dwarfing the fighters completely with its bulk. "If we keep on moving we should be able to take it do-WOAH!" the raven hair teen shouted, pulling Akane with him the ground as their foe leaped at them, throwing its massive body weight forward. It landed in the ring with a heavy thud, pushing itself up once again. It turned towards the teens and smirked, before doing a chopping motion in the air, a green aura surrounding it.

"Stay back from it! The Shadow just made itself stronger!" Kodachi shouted, the wounded girl having crawled away from the battle as best she could, legs too weak to carry her. Ranma wondered for the moment how she even knew that, but ignored both the thought and her warning as he charged forward at the dark figure. He saw the beast smile once more, clearly thinking that it was going to get an easy kill as it raised the massive palm it had to strike out once more, only for the Saotome heir to change direction mid stride, heading to the left. The teen jumped upwards, bringing both feet down on the rope that served as the rings barrier, the material stretching out before snapping back into place, launching the martial artist into a flying kick straight to the creature's middle.

The Shadow let out a grunt as it was hit down, the attack sending it skidding across the ring. It started to rise again only to find Ranma already rushing in, a flurry of punches arching out against it. Kodachi gaped, watching in surprise as the flowing light around the martial artist seemed to eat away at the Shadow, even if no physical damage was being done. Akane gave a shout as the Shadow once again tried to squash the quick fighter like a bug, missing again but destroying one of the posts that held the ring up, the splintered wood falling into the ring.

"That post... Akane!" Kodachi shouted with all of her strength, surprising the Tendo girl who had otherwise been watching the fight between the Shadow and Ranma, amazed by the speed of the pig-tailed martial artist. It was there only chance to hopefully vanquish this monster, and the Kuno wasn't going to let it escape them. Akane turned to her injured classmate away from the fight just as Saotome jumped back to avoid another massive attack from the enemy, the midnight-blue haired girl looking questioningly at Kodachi. "The broken post! Shadows are hurt most by things that are from this world!"

Immediately, Akane turned back to the splintered pole. With the shadow occupied still with Ranma, though the marital artist starting to slow obviously with his constant quick attacks and dodges, the youngest Tendo made her way behind them grabbing the large pole with both arms. Signaling to her training partner to help, Akane charged at the Shadow with the pole, the splintered end aimed for its back. Ranma join in with the assault, landing another jumping kick, pushing the lumbering beast back and onto the makeshift weapon. That, combined with Ranma's light Kodachi knew, would spell the end of their foe.

The Shadow let out a loud roar the moment it felt the broken piece of the ring enter its back, hands reaching back to try and pull it out. But the angle was wrong, and both of its foes were pushing it further into it. Even for a being such like itself, such a wound was fatal, and it could only struggle, yellow eyes glaring over at Kodachi. The Black rose watched as the humanoid Shadow fell to the ground, melting away into nothingness, all the while staring with hatred at the woman.

"So, just what in the world was that?" Akane asked as she approached Kodachi, offering her a hand of which she accepted, still too weak to do much otherwise.

"It was a Shadow... but now's not the time to explain." Kodachi replied. She winced as she tried to place some weight on her foot. She must have twisted it when she fell. "We've got to get out of here, there will be more coming if we don't escape soon."

The Black Rose found herself at a bit of a loss when the Tendo girl suddenly pulled her arm about the shoulder, helping support the injured girl. Any effort to try and deny to offer of help died on her lips when Ranma came into view, his light shining warmly. The fact that the light about him was still strong despite it being clear that the fight had tired the martial artist only confirmed what Kodachi had thought about him. "So, how do we get out of here then?" he asked her, dark eyes worriedly glancing at her wounds.

Taking a small breath to steady herself, Kodachi Kuno pointed off to the distance, up one of the flights of stairs. At the top looked like a pair of steel doors, a deep red that blended in near perfectly with the rest of the walls. "There is the exit. With that we'll be able to get out of here and go home..." Kodachi said with a quiet voice. "And once we get out, I'll explain everything."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Like Persona games before it, we don't exactly get immediately into the story, with it being a slow build up of us learning a bit of the characters before we end up fighting our first shadow. Speaking of which, unless you are all against it for some reason (Or I mention it directly in story) I'll be likely giving a small run down of any Shadows that come directly from the game. In this case, The one Ranma and Akane fight here is the base level Gigas shadow, which some of you might know from Kanji's dungeon in Persona 4. I figured a good brute force Shadow would be perfect for the new heroes to see what exactly are up against.


	4. Shadow's Strength

Kodachi bit her lip to suppress her gasp of pain as she, Ranma, and Akane hid behind the fake food counter, away from the glowing eyes of another Shadow. The beast looked little more then a floating ball with two, thin outstretched arms, but she knew that once in battle it would adopt a new form to fight with. From the frown on the Saotome boy's face, she could tell that he didn't like the fact that he had to hide and the only thing that stopped him from fighting the creature head-on were her injuries and his own exhaustion from the earlier fight with her kidnapper. With the additional problem of Akane being the only reason that the Black Rose was even capable of moving at the moment, stealth was simply a more reasonable option then confrontation.

When the creeping darkness left their view, Kodachi pointed them forward, towards another doorway that was framed on either side by large posters. Each one had a smeared image of what looked to be wrestlers, not unlike the form of the Shadow they had fought against, but the faces and sometimes limbs of the fighters couldn't be made out, looking little more then blobs against what was supposed to be colorful backgrounds. Like the locker room and the surrounding area which held the appearance of concession section of a stadium, it looked fake, like if only made to be scenery. The Kuno girl only hoped that it didn't mean what she thought it did. Putting those thoughts to the side, she tried her best to move her battered body faster.

Through the doorway they exited out of the fake stadium and into what couldn't be described as anything other then a parking lot. White lines dictating where cars could park stretched out in rows before them although no such vehicles were in sight. A dimly lit path seemed to lead to the left off into the distance, however it was impossible to see anything beyond the edge of parking lot. Ranma looked around before them, ensuring there were no Shadows before he waved the girls forward. "We still going the right way?" he asked, turning his gaze to Kodachi. The Black Rose nodded, not trusting herself to speak, but weather that was because of her injuries or because of the feeling of the males light washing over her, she wasn't entirely sure.

"Just a minute..." Akane spoke up, leaning Kodachi against the wall and then taking the spot beside her. The youngest Tendo girl bent over at the waist, breathing slow with her eyes closed and her hands gripped onto her knees to keep from falling over. Ranma frowned, moving beside her and kneeling to get a better view of her face, becoming even more worried by how pale the Tendo girl had gotten.

"Are you ok, Akane? I know you've got more stamina then this." He said, his tone tinged in worry.

"Yeah... I just feel a little sick..." she replied, trying to put on a bit of a smile through the ill sensations. "It's like I went the entire day without eating or something."

"It's this place..." Kodachi spoke up, surprising herself just as much as the others by finding her voice. Perhaps it was the fact that there more dangers here then just the shadows. She could feel her cheeks heat up a bit as Ranma looked towards her, but was fairly certain that he wouldn't notice it with her bruised state. "Humans were never meant to be here, much less stay for any length of time. The very atmosphere itself means us as much harm as the shadows do."

"Then why aren't I effected then? Shouldn't I be in the same state as she is?" Ranma asked, concerned as his eyes turned to the Tendo Girl. He was tired, yes, more so then normal but nothing to the extent of what Akane was going through.

"You are... special..." Kodachi replied, wincing a bit as Ranma's head snapped over to look at her in surprise, the martial artist's eyes wide. The fact that Akane did the same, looking at her sparring partner first and then over to the Black Rose, making the other girl feel uncomfortable. "It would take too long to explain here, let's wait until we can leave this place first."

Ranma frowned at her answer, but nodded after the midnight-haired girl gave a shaky groan as she forced herself to stand up, the pigtailed boy worried for her. The rest seemed, if anything, to make Akane feel worse then before if the grimace on her face was anything to go by. The Black Rose gave a small gasp as Ranma moved to take the Tendo girls place as Kodachi's crutch, the young man instantly looking at her and frowning again. "Sorry if I hurt you." He said, giving her the smallest of smiles, a gesture of kindness and one to make her feel more at ease. All it did was her body shiver, to be so close to his light, to be captured in it.

They soon followed the road leading away from the stadium, the surrounding land appearing little more then muddled shapes in the darkness. Nothing around them seemed to have any definition other then the road itself and they didn't need Kodachi's knowledge about this place to know that trying to go into those undefined spots would have resulted in more trouble then anything else. More then once Akane slowed down, gasping and wincing as if she were about to be sick. Every time that Ranma turned, looking as if he was going to offer to help the tiring Tendo, she simply stood back up and pushed herself past the pair, leading the way for a moment or two before her exhaustion started to creep back in.

"There!" Kodachi said after what felt like an hour of traveling down the bleak road, pointing past the muddled shapes of the Shadow-ruled land and towards something that finally had some definition. A large, raised marble platform made up the bulk of the clearing they now closed in on with a large canopy atop it, though for what weather it would need to keep out in this world not even Kodachi knew. The stone slid off into the lower ground on either side of the platform before them, where they could see a set of train tracks running off into the distance, disappearing into the muddled shapes that surrounded them. A simple sign hung down from middle of the awning, a pair of words written on it that read  **VOID JUNCTION**.

"What is this place? It looks like a train station." Akane said to herself, her face a mix of uncertainty as well as the continued sickness of being within this world. The Black Rose wasn't certain how bad prolonged exposure to this place could be. Definitely not as fatal as dealing with the Shadows could be in a place where they could physically interact with you, but it probably wasn't doing the youngest Tendo girl any favors by staying either.

"I'll explain once we're safe." Kodachi said, trying to shelve away those darker thoughts, before pointing towards the platform. "Up here."

Moving up the stairs of the raised stone, the Black Rose pointed to the left where what appeared to be a full length mirror lay, its surface as smooth as porcelain. It was decorated along the edges, the head of it forming into what looked like a motherly woman gazing down with a small smile, while on either side there was a small hand gripping onto what looked like a cloak.

Breaking away from Ranma's grasp, Kodachi walked gingerly to the mirror with the pigtailed boy hovered around her in case her injuries proved to be difficult,. Raising a bruised hand, she stroked the mirror right against the cheek of the decoration, muttering a soft word under her breath. The eyes of the decoration opened at that word, shining like pearls in the muddled and faded darkness of the shadow world, and the surface of the mirror itself soon followed with a soft glow of black and white spirals of energy.

Turning to the others, Kodachi winced a little as she saw the surprise and shock in their eyes, especially Ranma's. That last little thought made the female Kuno want to smack herself, again bringing up the memory of her brother. There was nothing more about the Saotome boy other then his light that made the girl feel this way, that was the only explanation. "It's safe." She said after a moment. "This will take us back and then we can talk." With that, she touched the surface of the mirror, falling through it as if the glass was never there.

~oOo~

When the swirls of black and white cleared from Ranma's eyes, the first thing he noticed as the lack of the dark, almost oppressive atmosphere of that world. Everything regained the sharpness of detail he was used to, and it was only then did the martial artist realize that they were not back in the alleyway where they had first entered the shadow world. A modestly-sized room now surrounded the trio, with the mirror placed at the center of the furthest wall. Afternoon sunlight drifted through a window off to the left, its curtains dark and parted only lightly, and outside Ranma could make out what looked to be a small pond. To the right lay a small but decorated desk that was neatly kept, a picture that the young Saotome couldn't quite make out adorning the middle of it. Finally the center of the room had a small table with a few chairs seated around it and a simple table cloth covering the wood.

"Mistress Kodachi!" called out a voice that broke Ranma out of his observation, the sound enough to make the exhausted Akane jump in surprise. Dropping from the ceiling above them, a rather small man landed with practice ease on the floor with one hand laying against it in a bow. Dressed in ninja garb, the small man looked up with a mousy face that was twisted in worry, small brown eyes looking at at her in concern and them with suspicion. "Mistress, you're injured! And who are these that come with you? Are they the cause?" That last bit came with him reaching towards his belt, at least one weapon visible against the fabric.

"No no, I'm fine, Sasuke." The young woman said, raising a hand to the small man before he could make any further assumptions. A small smile graced her face, the first that Ranma had seen, as she sat on the nearest chair with only the smallest of winces. The ninja nodded, his hand returning into it's original perch atop his knee, though his eyes stayed locked on both of the Martial artists. "I'd be in a much worse state if it wasn't for these two. Please, fetch the first aid and maybe start some tea, I've got much to explain." she added gently.

"At once, Mistress." he said, bowing to her and turning quickly, disappearing from sight. They waited only for a few moments before Sasuke returned, a small handled box in one hand and a tea kettle with a portable heater in the other. Placing the heater down, the ninja placed the kettle atop the metal stand and turned it on, placing the metal pot atop it gingerly. He then opened the box he brought, placing a few cups he had stored inside on the table before he brought out a bottle and some cotton balls, wetting them with the bottle's contents before lightly cleaning Kodachi's temple of blood.

"Please, sit down.." Kodachi said, just a flicker of pain crossing her face as the alcohol stung at her wounds. Ranma gave a look to Akane, knowing that his sparring partner was a bit more familiar with the girl then he was. She returned it with a nod, sitting across from their classmate, the Saotome heir sitting beside her.

"I believe you all have a lot of questions about what we just went though..." Kodachi started, her eyes focused on the pair even as Sasuke wrapped a bandage about her head, the ninja moving with a practiced ease. "And I would like to start off things here by thanking you for rescuing me from the Other Realm."

"Is that what that place is called? The Other Realm? Just what exactly is going on?" Akane asked in rapid fire succession. She would have clearly asked even more if it wasn't for the fact that the ninja glared at her from his position on the floor, tending to the injuries on Kodachi's leg. The injured girl patted the kneeling man softly, calming him before looking up at Akane and sighing.

"Yes, that place is called the Other Realm... or at least, that's the name it's gone by since I was born." Kodachi said, staring off as she spoke, the distant look in her eyes staring more into the past then at the two before her. "As long as I can remember, my family knew about that place, fought against the beings in there, called Shadows. Some call them spirits of the dead, others have named them demons of the abyss. In reality, they are simply a dark side of humanity, all the negative and hateful thoughts anyone has ever had given flesh and form. These creatures were originally sealed within the Other Realm, unable to interact with our world. The only exception to this was those who had the power to fight them could still see them, could still be effected by those dark beings. It was a way of reminding my family that there would always be need of protection against these dark beings. Though, as you've seen, that shield no longer exists if such a basic shadow was able to make its way through."

"Your mother always said that the barrier wouldn't last forever, Mistress." Sasuke said from his position at her side, covering the last bit of her leg with a tight bandage before placing away the rest of the first aid into the box beside him. Ranma didn't miss the noticeable wince from their classmate at the mention of her mother and wondered if her own story was anything like Akane's. It made him think for a moment to his own mother which caused a small frown to cross over his face. What exactly happened to her? Genma never really talked much about her and often had set more training on the Pigtailed martial artist when ever he had asked. He was distracted from that train of thought when the ninja placed a cup of hot tea in his hands, the martial thanking him and hearing Akane do the same beside him.

"Yes, Sasuke, she did say that." The young Kuno woman said with her voice heavy and thick. She shook her head, sending her pony tail swaying atop her head for a moment before taking a sip of her tea.

"Is that why they were after you?" Ranma asked, his face concerned. "Is that why these Shadows tried to kidnap you? They know you can see them and fight them?"

"See... but not fight." Kodachi replied softly, her lips turned in an almost hated frown. "I was never given my proper training on how to fight these beasts, to bring out the power needed to ward them off and away from those they wish to harm. While I've done my best to learn about them and know their weaknesses, there is little I can do against them myself. That was... another who had that skill." The dark haired woman placed her cup of tea and sighed. "But yes, Ranma, that's why the shadows were trying to kill me."

The pigtailed martial artist winced at her words, even if he couldn't deny them. Those beasts seemed to be out for blood alright, and he was fairly certain Kodachi wouldn't have lived had he and Akane didn't interfere. A look towards the youngest Tendo sibling told him the exact same thought had crossed her face as well. "Is there anyway to restore the barrier? To stop them from entering our world again?" Akane asked, eyes locked with the Kuno girl.

"Maybe, but even if I knew exactly how to do so, I don't have the power to do it. The Shadows have defeated and destroyed people with much more wisdom and skill than I and it was only when they had taken me today did I even know they were capable of breaching the protection that had been placed on this world." Kodachi said, her eyes shutting tight. When she opened them again, she stole a look at Ranma before letting out a heavy sigh. "But that's one of the reasons why I was wishing to talk to you, Ranma Saotome."

The Saotome heir's blood ran cold at those words, even more so as they sparked the memory of Igor's.  _Those chosen to enter the Velvet room are often faced with tri_ _a_ _ls in the near future,_  the long nosed man had said. What kind of trial would be bigger then finding out there was another world full of creatures literally made out of the darkness? "What's that, Kodachi?" he asked with a neutral tone.

"You..." she started, taking another glance at him, stopped, and then started again with reluctance in her voice. "You have a power, Ranma. I'm not even completely sure what it is, but it is a light. A light that all the Shadows seem to fear. I've never seen anyone drive them off like you have, and you weren't even aware of them."

"But what would cause that, Mistress?" Sasuke said, a look of confusion on his face, one that became analytical as he turned to give the Anything Goes marital artist another appraisal. Ranma wasn't sure which of the two he liked least. "And what exactly does it mean? No one has had a power to just ward of the shadows and not be aware of them."

Kodachi just shook her head, frowning and not willing to bring her gaze upward. When she spoke again, it was pained, like she was afraid of being shouted or laughed at. "All I know is that Ranma has the capability of fighting the Shadows. Whatever his power is, it allows him to exist in the Other Realm without the weakening effects it has on others. And while it required using something of that world to defeat the shadow, I could tell that Ranma's blows hurt the creature."

Ranma frowned to himself, his memories slipping back to the fight, seeing just what Kodachi had meant. Akane's hit, something that would have winded some of the stronger men that Ranma had seen, did little if anything to the shadow even with her throwing all of her strength behind the punch. His own had hurt the beast, even if only slightly. But if it wasn't for that broken part of the arena, he doubted that he would have been able to bring it down at all.

"Ranma," Kodachi started, bringing the pigtailed martial artist out of his thoughts. He looked up at her and was a little surprised that she was meeting his eyes. She hadn't looked at them at all since the classroom, almost as if she were afraid. There was fear in her eyes now, he could see, but something else that he could quite understand. "I'm wanting to lay this out plainly before you. With the barrier down, the shadows  _will_  continue to enter this world, and they won't be focused on going after just me. The light you possess might be one of the few things that is capable of fighting off against them." She paused, taking a small gulp of air before staring at Ranma again. It was then that he recognized the look in her eyes, that of someone desperate for help. "Please, I ask you to help fight the shadows..."

"I don't really know anything about these monsters other then what you told us, Kodachi, but if I can do anything to help fend off these things, you can count me in." Ranma said, returning his classmates look with that of determination and strength. It couldn't be a coincidence that this other worldly event would happen in junction with his meeting with Igor or this 'power' that Kodachi could see. There was also the added desire to avoid acting like Genma Saotome. His father would probably halfway across the country by now had he been approached with this shadow business.

"I'll help too." Akane added in suddenly, drawing all eyes too her. "We can't have these things just wander about."

"I thank you for your desire to help, Miss Tendo, but I don't think it wise to include you in our fight." Kodachi said with a gentle tone, looking at Akane apologetically. "You don't have the light that Ranma has and you were affected by the Other Realm. It would be safer for you never to enter that place again. Besides, after all the troubles my brother has given you, I don't wish to cause you any more grief."

"She's right, Akane, it's too dangerous to have just anyone fighting these things. We don't need anyone else getting pulled into that place like Kodachi did." Ranma agreed, turning to his sparing partner, his face grave. He was serious about that. He was going to keep as many people out of this business as he could.

Akane's eyes narrowed at both of their rebuttals, crossing her arms furiously over her chest. "I'm not a child! I can handle myself just as well as you two!" she growled, teeth clenched.

"You mentioned your bother, what's his deal anyway?" Ranma asked, trying to get off the topic of not letting the youngest Tendo sister help them out.

"Tatewaki is like me, able to see the Shadows even while safe in this world." Kodachi said with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair. "But he never really believed in them, never really cared to have anything to do with them or the powers that our family possess. It made the Shadows go after him even more because of that, refusing to leave him alone. I'm afraid now he's too far gone to acknowledge anything in the real world anymore."

"And what about this mirror?" Akane was standing near the mirror, her back towards them as she asked her question, studying the smooth carving of the headpiece. It was exactly the same as the one they had found back in the Other Realm, but for one major difference. Where its twin had eyes of pearl, shining like lights, the decoration here owned two onyx gems in its sockets, black as night staring down at them all. "If this barrier you said was supposed to be up, how does this work into everything?"

"It was made long ago, when the wall between the worlds was first raised. They knew that even with that protective shield in place, strong Shadows might be able to find their way into our world through weaknesses or by discovering a way to bypass barrier completely." Kodachi replied, looking to Akane for a moment before her gaze rose to the craved figure atop the polished glass. "The mirror was made as a way to get into the Other Realm safely and ensure that nothing is wrong on the other side. I myself make monthly treks into the darkness for exactly that."

"What about fighting these things though? Ya said yourself that a weapon is needed to really harm these beasts, since this light that I have could only hurt them a little. I don't think lugging around a broken arena pole is going to be the best way for taking out Shadows." Ranma said, a small frown on his face. Under normal situations, he wouldn't exactly be all that keen on doing anything lethal in battle. A martial artist is supposed to protect those who can't protect themselves, aren't they? But what ever these dark creatures were, Ranma didn't think they cared all that much about an honorable fight, if they cared for anything at all.

"Leave that to me," Sasuke said, speaking up and making the pigtailed martial artist jump. Ranma had forgot that the ninja was even still there, listening in on everything they had said. It only made sense for someone of his profession to be silent, he guessed. The Saotome heir watched as the short man went over to the desk with the picture on it, moving to the lowest drawer that had been built into it and pulling it open. Slipping his hands inside, Sasuke pulled out a slender sword, scabbard and all, and closed the desk back up before turning to the group.

"This weapon used to belong to Kodachi's grandfather, a man I had served before she was born and he assigned me here. He, like Kodachi, was part of the group that works to protect us against the Shadows and though he knew I couldn't do anything physically to help, he knew that I would have other services I could offer. I had crafted this blade when I first entered his service as a sign of my loyalty, but he wished it used by those younger then him." Sasuke explained, holding the weapon closely. He was clearly reluctant to part with it. "So long as you're working with Mistress Kodachi, you can use it. I can even make you better weapons, should you be able to obtain materials from the Shadows themselves."

"Are you sure about this?" Ranma asked, his hands reaching out gingerly for the weapon, a bit unsure. The martial artist had indeed used weapons before in battle, though nothing with a sharpened edge and not during anything that could qualify as a life and death fight. He could also see how much Sasuke cherished the blade in his hands. The Saotome heir wasn't the least bit surprised when the ninja clutched the blade even tighter in his hands and pulled it closer to his chest.

"No, I'm not sure at all, Mr. Saotome." the small man said with the most neutral mask he could manage, something that came across more as a glare. "But the Mistress has been right before in dealing with the Shadows, as her mother before her. If she says that there's something special about you to help us, I'm willing to help her in anyway I see fit. I give this blade to you and see it as the same as when I gave it to her grandfather; an oath that you'll protect her and fight hard against her enemies."

Ranma nodded, his face serious. "I'll do my best, Sasuke. I didn't run the other way when the Shadow first kidnapped her, I'm not going to do so now."

The ninja's face softened at that, nodding as he placed the blade into Saotome's hands. The scabbard itself was a pale blue in color, decorated only lightly with a single white band wrapped about the head of the case where the sword itself started and a small etching of gold where the tip of the weapon would be held. On the hilt of the weapon itself a small white rose had been etched carefully, probably the symbol of the Kuno family if Ranma had to hazard a guess to its significance. Unsheathing the weapon, the pigtailed teen wasn't surprised at all to see it in the form of a katana. The blade was slender but long enough to give Ranma the advantage of reach, the edge still razor sharp despite having been in that desk for who knows how long.

"I can't thank you enough for agreeing to this, Ranma. This sort of thing isn't exactly easy to believe, I know.." Kodachi said as the martial artist returned the weapon to its scabbard.

"Trust me, Kodachi. I've been through enough to know that this isn't that farfetched. Besides, I kinda fought those creatures myself. Only an idiot would try and pretend something couldn't be real after killing it." Ranma replied with a grin on his face. The fact that the Shadows were plenty strong also meant he didn't have to hold back against them like he had Akane, which he could add in to his training.

"Even so, I'm sure we've all had a little too much excitement for one day. Sasuke, if you wouldn't mind escorting Ranma and Miss Tendo home..." Kodachi paused after a moment, a frown covering her face as she looked about the room, as if searching for something. "Where is Miss Tendo?" she asked, worry coloring her voice.

Ranma blinked for a moment before he too searched about the room, Sasuke joining in as well. Like Kodachi they came up empty, with Akane nowhere in sight. The ninja in particular looked rather upset that someone had vanished without his notice. "She was just here a moment ago, Mistress." the small man said, his eyes scanning the ceiling, a place where Saotome didn't doubt Sasuke often hid himself.

It only took Ranma a moment to remember just what kind of mood the youngest Tendo had been in when she last spoke, the martial artist spinning towards the Mirror. "You don't think..." Sasuke started, gazing at where Ranma was now facing, his eyes widening as the implications set in.

"I wouldn't put it past her... Damn it, Akane." Ranma growled, moving to the mirror himself.

"Wait, you can't seriously think about going after her!" The ninja said, stopping Ranma by stepping before the portal, eyes glaring up at him. "You all just only got out of there! It would be suicide to go back into there so soon with the Shadows actively looking for you!"

"We can't just leave her in there!" Ranma snapped, glaring down at the diminutive ninja. "She doesn't have this light thing that Kodachi's been talking about, she's completely vulnerable in there!"

"Sasuke, Ranma's right. We've got to get her out of there before anything can happen to her." Kodachi said, forcing herself to stand with noticeable effort. Sasuke was instantly at her side, helping support the injured woman gently. She smiled at him for a moment before moving to the mirror beside Ranma, the ninja supporting her every step of the way.

In any normal situation, the pigtailed martial artist would have been against the injured girl joining in on trying to rescue Akane from the Shadows. At best, she would slow them down and he had already seen that the living darkness desperately wanted to end Kodachi's life. But he didn't know the area within the Other Realm, and he didn't know if he could even find Akane without getting lost himself in there. In this kind of situation, he was stuck doing something he'd normally never want to do. "Will he be alright in there? I know you've got some protection in there, since you weren't feeling as ill as Akane." Ranma asked, pointing to Sasuke. All they needed was the one thing supporting the injured girl to fall over sick himself.

"I'll be quite fine, Mr. Saotome. I've got more experience in there then you do!" The ninja snapped, eyes narrowing. "While I may not be able to do much against the Shadows myself, I'll be able to at least make sure the Mistress is safe while we go off on this fool's errand!"

Kodachi put a calming hand on Sasuke's shoulder, quieting any further outbursts from the small man before moving closer to the mirror. As she had done in the Other Realm, the young woman reached up and brushed her fingers against the cheek of the decoration. With a swirl on the surface of the mirror, revealing the same black and white portal that had lead them to the other world in the first place, Ranma gave the pair beside him a nod before leaping into the alternate world once more.

~oOo~

The moment that the swirl of black and white left Ranma's vision and he felt firm earth beneath his feet once more, he drew the sword from it's scabbard, leveling it before him. He heard the sound of Kodachi and Sasuke emerging from the portal shortly afterwords, the ninja fretting over the injured woman almost instantly. "So," He said, eyes scanning about the odd train station they found themselves in once more. "How exactly can we find Akane in here?"

"Leave that to me." Kodachi replied, moving beside him before closing her eyes. The young woman let out a soft breath as she swung out her arms, palms flat before her, and slowly began to turn. The action left Ranma confused for a moment before he felt a surge of energy come from her, focused at her hands. Used to dealing with Ki, life energies that others in the art could mold and shape to their whim, Ranma could tell that his classmate was using something else though it was just close enough for his senses to pick up on. He kept quiet as he watched Kodachi, her hands moving slowly before her until they stopped facing the opposite direction they had come when they first tried to escape from the Other Realm.

"She's that way." Kodachi said, opening her eyes, the blue gray orbs sharp with focus. Ranma nodded the affirmative and started down off the platform, the injured woman and the small ninja following closely behind him.

The surrounding area started to melt away from them as they moved further away from the Void Junction, Ranma glancing back every few moments to make sure the two behind him were alright. The Saotome heir winced when he noticed Sasuke already starting to falter from the poisonous like atmosphere of the Other Realm, the little ninja steeling his face in a hard grimace. Kodachi was beside him, only once in a while needing to use the small man for balance or support. Ranma would have to try and his best to make sure that anything they fought focused him instead of the others.

Soon the blank greyness of the world around them started to sharpen, shades of buildings rising from the ground like trees. Streets appeared under their feet as they continued on, alleys forming between the newly detailed houses complete with hulking dumpsters made for trash. It was only after passing a tall wooden pole that the realization hit Ranma. He  _knew_  this place. "We're at the Tendo's Dojo..." he said, confused.

"Oh no..." Sasuke groaned, sickness heavy in his voice despite his best attempts to cover it. "Does that mean what I think it means, Mistress?"

"I pray that it doesn't." Kodachi replied, her tone grim. "Ranma, we must prepared for a fight."

"What's going on?" Ranma asked, frowning as he drew the borrowed blade closer to him, eyes glancing all about him. He was already on edge thanks to being back in the Other Realm and all the young woman's words did was make his body tense, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

"We've seen this before, though it was a long time ago. Someone had been brought here before the barrier had been placed, trapped for who knows how long with no way to escape. It took them many days to find them, as the world itself had changed, altering through some means that even now escapes us. When those in my bloodline had finally been able to reach the victim, they found instead a Shadow with more power than any that they had ever seen previous." Kodachi grimaced, the memory clearly unpleasant. "The fight had been costly and the person who had been trapped had died."

_Well, doesn't that make things all that much easier…_  Ranma thought darkly to himself, nodding to Kodachi's words. He knew from the get go that he'd be running into some nasty things, but the fact that Akane still got involved in things left a bad taste in his mouth. Sighing softly, he waved at the pair to follow him as he moved to the front of the Tendo Dojo, opening the wooden doors that lead to the garden slowly.

Almost immediately a pair of Shadows leapt out from the open door, Ranma's quick reflexes being the only thing that prevented him from being chomped down by the aggressive monsters. Spherical in shape, the creatures were all mouth, the only colors about them being black and white stripes that covered their entire bodies. Long, red tongues hung out of their unflinching smiles. A rasping, almost shuddering sound came from the closest of the two terrors which Ranma realized was a laugh. It was all the warning he had before they attacked again.

The first of the smiling Shadows charged at Ranma, maw open wide to take another huge bite at the martial artist. He responded by diving under the flying ball, planting both hands flat against the ground to help force his feet up into the butt of the monster. The Anything Goes student was rewarded by a strong pained sound, the beast flying through the air and hitting a nearby stone wall that surrounded the other world's houses.

The lips of the second smiling orb twitched down for a moment, not expecting any resistance from its meal. Then the beast charged forward, tongue trailing beneath it in an open mouthed attack. Ranma pulled his blade up, the steel catching in the balls mouth. The clash between the two lasted for a moment before the martial artist let out a growl, digging the sharp edge of the katana into the side of it's mouth, ripping through the cheek and rewarding the Saotome heir with the sound of its scream of pain.

"Saotome!" Sasuke's cry came, followed by the sound of the other monsters sound of attack. Ranma whirled about only to find the large mouth was after the small ninja and Kodachi instead of him, the long red tongue of the creature drooling down sticky saliva. The servant of the Kuno's had peppered the front of the Shadow with small but sharp throwing stars, but it did very little visible damage to the hungry beast. Kodachi herself was wide eyed with fear, the girl crouched down tight against herself. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, the pigtailed teen charged, blade whipping about to cut deep into the monsters unprotected backside, driving it away from the pair.

"Damn it..." Ranma growled, moving before the pair once more. The two balls floated before him, their smiling faces turned into frowns now, one of them with a horrible gash in the side of it's mouth that slowly started to seal back in place like nothing had happened. The martial artist kept the weapon before him, making sure now to keep both of the Shadows in his vision. Multiple foes wasn't something he was exactly used to, thanks mostly to Genma's training being focused almost entirely on one on one with only the lightest of strategy on multiple foes being taught. Most of those lessons were focused on getting the guys you were fighting to go after each other instead of him and Ranma didn't think that particular strategy would work on floating heads made from darkness. A small part of the Anything Goes fighter wondered just where was that assistance that Igor had said he'd supply.

_Thou art I…_ Came a strong, smooth voice, the sound clear within Ranma's mind, causing him to stiffen. For a moment, Ranma wondered if he was going insane, if maybe perhaps there was something within the Other Realm that was effecting him mentally. Then he wondered if maybe everything he had been to up to this point was a dream, and he was going to wake up with Genma splashing water in his face. But the voice came again… _I art thou…_

Ranma tensed at the feeling of a new power flow through him, warming his limbs and pushing away that little nagging bit of sickness that he had felt while in the Shadow's world. He could feel it mingling with his Ki, fusing with it, burning with strength within him. He could hear Kodachi give a small gasp beside him, covering her eyes from a light that only now did the Saotome heir notice was flowing about him. The energy grew, begging to be released and used. All it needed was one simple word that came to Ranma's lips easily, as if he had known it all of his life.

"PERSONA!"

A burst of Ki energy pushed out of Ranma's body with the shout, feeling the energy flow out and reach upwards, becoming visible as it mingled with the light aura about him. He could feel power pulse into the air above him, could feel it taking shape. The martial artist barely registered the shadows flying towards him with wild motions, mouths twisted into crazed gapes of fear. All he did was raise his hand towards one of the striped balls and drop it downward, and the energy behind him responded to the call. A huge pillar of stone slammed down on his chosen victim, crushing the creature and splattering its motes of darkness into that quickly faded into nothing. It was only after seeing the death of one of the shadows did Ranma's eyes follow the weapon to its source.

Behind him now stood a huge figure stepping through the remaining light and Ki energy. Standing taller then any human possibly could, the creature was humanoid and clad in dark, heavy robes that hid most of its lanky frame. Tangled, wild fur cover the visible portions of the creatures hands and face, of which wasn't entirely human, huge sharp teeth taking place in its smiling mouth. Wide ringed eyes glanced down at Ranma and nodded softly, the Persona pulling back the huge stone pillar it used as a weapon with a massive tail warped around the base, the Saotome heir now realized was a staff when comparing it to the wielder. It was then that the figure's name came to the pigtailed teen, one that came to him as easily as the word Persona had just a few moments before.  _Wukong_.

Turning to the remaining Shadow, Ranma couldn't help but grin himself, face mirroring that of his Persona above. He could feel the strength, the power of the figure that had come to the call, and it was easy to tell that the power of Wukong far outweighed the floating orb. The shadow clearly sensed this too, turning around to flee, tongue flailing wildly. It never saw the falling stone staff that came crashing down on it's head.

With the foes gone, the Persona pulled the weapon back to its side before turning to Ranma, gazing down at him with those deep, ringed eyes. They knew everything, all that made the marital artist what he was, the things that he had gone through. The Saotome heir knew more then anything else that he had faced his other self, a facet of his own way to fight the hardships of his life in Wukong. With a final saluting nod, Wukong faded from sight like an illusion. Ranma could still feel the Persona deep within him, waiting to be called upon when he needed it.

The martial artist shouldn't have been surprised at all when he turned back to Koadchi and Sasuke only to see them both wide eyed, the little ninja having the added feature of a dropped jaw. His classmate's eyes looked directly into his, just like she had back at school, and as before Ranma found that he couldn't break that gaze. "So, that is what I felt..." the young woman said after a moment later, breaking away from his eyes. She stared off to the side, her eyes lost for only a moment, uncertain before hardening. "I think we should continue onward, before more Shadows could prevent our rescue efforts once more."

Ranma just nodded, his lips in a straight line. He could tell there was something Kodachi was hiding, something about the Persona that she wasn't letting on. But for now, that wasn't important, the martial artist turning to the swirling red and black portal that would have been just an entrance to the Tendo Dojo in the real world. With Kodachi and Sasuke beside him, the trio stepped into the dark home.

~oOo~

The insides of the shadow dojo proper were identical to the one in the real world, right down to the koi pond that right next to the entrance to the house proper. For a moment, Ranma thought they'd have to search the entire complex to try and find Akane, but Kodachi pointed towards the Dojo itself the moment they entered the grounds.

They found Akane in the middle of the of the training hall, another ball shaped shadow opposite her. The youngest Tendo sister barely dodged out of the way as the creature made its move, the sound of the monster's tongue slapping against the wooden floor sounding a great deal louder then it should. Injuries marred visible parts of her body, mostly red bruises from the blunt attacks, and she was clearly winded. The Shadow, on the other hand, was pristine in its appearance, grinning madly while floating back and forth before the girl tauntingly. Their entrance brought the monster's attention to it and the gaping grin it wore quickly turned to a frown. With the fight no longer being a one on one, the shadow turned and fled.

"Hey!" Akane growled, voice tired and breath heavy. "I'm not done with you yet!"

"Miss Tendo!" Sasuke shouted angrily, causing the girl to jump.

Her eyes narrowed when she turned to the trio, face twisting into a proud smile. She brought up her arms against her hips, each hand clenched into a fist in a stance of triumph. "See!" The Tendo girl said with as much moxie as she could muster. "I told you guys I could handle a Shadow, even without what ever stupid 'power' Ranma has!"

"If it wasn't for the fact that we were here to rescue, Miss Tendo, I'd be the one fighting you myself!" The small ninja growled as he stomped his way to her. Despite his size, the amount of anger that near visibly pulsed off his body was enough to cause Akane to step back a bit. "Not only did we have to bring Mistress Kodachi back in here, who's already been injured from these vile creatures, but this is AFTER you've learned this world isn't kind to humans!"

"I was showing you guys I could fight these things just as well as anyone!" Akane growled back, staring down at the tiny man. "Just because I'm not as good as Ranma doesn't mean I can't be useful in a fight. Don't just shove me off like I'm useless!"

"No one said you were, Miss Tendo..." Kodachi said, rising her hands between the two. "But I'd rather not involve more then is necessary, and I'm not sure if I would have even approached Ranma had you two not rescued me when I was taken. I was willing to try another way for fighting these creatures instead of involving others."

Akane didn't have an answer for that, her triumphant grin she had before had fallen and now her scowl on her lips matched the angered look in her eyes. That gaze was also leveled directly at Ranma, which made the Saotome heir wince softly. He knew how much pride the girl had, which is why he had tried to make light of the whole deal about her not fighting earlier. Clearly he'd not done enough. Before he could say anything, though, a harsh laugh echoed out from the darkness that brought all eyes to it.

"You don't get it, do you?" said the voice, harsh and cold. It's owner came forward into the middle of the training hall, and there was at least one exclamation of surprise among the group. It wasn't that surprising, considering the person that stood before them was a complete carbon copy of Akane. She had the same long midnight-blue hair, a light blue school uniform complete with matching shoes, and she moved exactly the same as the youngest Tendo as well. Of course, it would be hard to mistake this newcomer as Akane what with her evil sneer and her bright yellow eyes, like that of a Shadow. "She doesn't care if you want her or not! All she wants is to be the important one, like always!"

"Just who the hell are you?" Akane demanded, clenching her hands into tight fists, enough so that Ranma could have thought that he'd heard them crack. "And why the hell do you look like me?"

"Ranma! Akane! We must leave!  **I** **mmediately**!" Kodachi near shouted, already backing away from the doppelganger with Sasuke, the woman's face pale. Akane's copy just laughed, waving her fingers almost lazily. The sound of the doors shutting harshly echoed out through the room, the loudest being the one that had just locked tight right in the Kuno woman's face.

"To answer both," the yellow eyed woman said, glancing at the original in almost perverse glee. "Is that I  **AM**  you."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Akane growled through gritted teeth. "You're just a no-good impersonator!"

That got another laugh from the Tendo girl's copy, the girl's smile wicked and twisted. Those yellow eyes locked up with the eyes of her counterpart. "Oh, and you're going to claim that you hate everyone treating you like the best? Even those stupid boys fighting over you? That's a bunch of bullshit and we both know it."

The words seemed to cut through Akane, the young teen's eyes widening and face paling in anger. For a moment, Ranma was afraid that she was going to throw a punch. His eyes turned to Kodachi for an explanation, but all he found was naked fear, the woman near quivering in the corner. It was all that Ranma needed to see to place his fingers on the hilt of the katana, the martial artist feeling only the slightest twinge of concern that he already felt so comfortable with the weapon.

Akane's evil counterpart continued with a grin, crossing her arms against her chest with a superior air when the Tendo girl didn't respond. "'She's the strongest fighter around!' 'I'd be the best if I dated her!' All they do is compliment you no matter how good you really are, and you eat it up like a spoiled little brat! Perfect little Akane Tendo, the most important girl in Nerima..." then the doppelganger's face large smile turned into a snarl. "That's at least until Ranma came around!"

It was Saotome's turn to stiffen now, looking at the yellowed eye copy. Just what exactly was this thing going on about? Akane seemed almost embarrassed at the accusing tone of her counterpart, the girl seeming to blush a bit. "S-shut up!" she said with heat, though her voice lacked conviction. "Stop spouting out these stupid little lies!"

The other Akane laughed once more, the sneer back on her face. "What reason would I have to lie? You've been feeling like this ever sense that jerk Ranma came! I'm just telling it how it is, how you feel, because as I said before… I am you!"

"No!" Akane shouted back, tossing her arms out as she were try to throw away something disgusting. "You're not me, you've never been me! I'm not anything like that!"

Ranma tensed as he felt a sudden surge of energy wash over him the moment his sparing partner said those words, and having only recently discovered a power of his own after uttering a single word, he was rather apprehensive about anything spoken that could invoke such strength. The doppelganger laughed louder, harsher then she had ever previously, eyes glowing with a crazed brightness. "Oh yes, little girl. Say that again..."

"You're not me!" Akane near screamed, fists clenched.

The copy's face turned into a wild, insane smile at the words, laughing wildly. "YES!" She cried out in passionate power. A flow of energy surrounded the woman, the bright power Ranma recognized almost instantly as the same that he had used during Wukong's first appearance, if it wasn't for the fact that hers felt like a dark replica. The copy of Akane twisted and warped before their eyes. Her face stretched out into a long, huge snout, full of gnashing teeth and a long serpentine tongue. Her forearms grew thick, fingers morphing into claws with both appendages becoming covered in hard, thick scales. The body extended and grew to four times its normal size. At the end of the now monstrous shadow, a long scaly tale whipped out and took out the back wall of the Other Realm's Tendo Dojo.

Akane's response to all this was quite surprising, the girl falling over onto her back with a heavy thud, face twisted into sickness. Sasuke was at her side almost instantly, pulling the Tendo girl as far as he could from the Shadow. Kodachi moved beside Ranma, eyes locked with the dark dragon. "We must defeat this Shadow, Ranma… if we've any chance of leaving here alive."

"Kinda thought as much. She doesn't look like the type to want to play Shogi." Ranma said, giving Akane a worried look before facing the dragon and drawing his blade.

"I am a shadow, the true self!" Shadow Akane said with a haughty tone, her huge jaws not shifting at all in position as she talked. "I'm the only one deserving of the spotlight! I won't let you take away what's mine!" And with that, the dragon attacked, swinging a huge meaty paw down at Ranma like one might do to an insect.

Ranma jumped to the side, barely escaping the blow but still tumbling to the ground from the sheer force of the attack. Shadow Akane's head twisted to follow the martial artist when she noticed her initial strike had failed, a snarl showing more fanged teeth. The Saotome heir lashed out as he rose with the borrowed blade, watching as it dug into scale and flesh. The dragon let out a roar, though it was more of annoyance then of pain as it swatted once more at her foe, catching Ranma on the side and knocking him clear across the room.

_Can't take many of those attacks…_  The pig-tailed martial artist thought, trying to keep the room from spinning about him. If nothing else like Akane, the Shadow had her strength, amplified to insane levels by its monstrous transformation. A small part of Ranma burned as he searched for a way to fight the dragon, which he quickly realized was Wukong's energy swelling inside of him. Grinning wildly, he pushed his Ki into that energy, feeling it grow and burst from him like it had before. In a flash, the visage of Wukong appeared once more, the grinning monkey bringing down its stone staff against the dragon's head.

Shadow Akane recoiled in pain at the strike, snarling loudly as it's tail whipped about quickly. It hit only air as Wukong's form faded from existence, confusing both monster and martial artist. A wave of physical exhaustion washed over Ranma almost immediately, like he had just spent a good hour training with Genma at his most harshest. It didn't take a genius to figure out what that meant.  _Ok, can't keep Wukong out for long and physical attacks require physical strength. Wish I knew that before I was fighting for my life against an overgrown lizard._

"Ranma, watch out!" came Kodachi's cry, bringing Ranma's attention back to the dragon. The monster's head had reared back, an orange light glowing within its mouth. Knowing he'd never be able to get out of the way in time, the martial artist focused hard on that energy of Wukong, praying that the Persona would respond to his call once more while he brought his blade up before him in a defensive position. Energy washed over him focusing on the katana just as the fire of the dragon washed over him, parting like water to either side. Ranma could still feel the attack, could still feel it sting and pain him, but he could tell the damage would be nowhere near as violent as it would have been should he had taken the attack without defending himself. In fact, some small part of said that fire would always be a problem for him.

"Why aren't you dead yet?!" The Shadow screamed in fury, crazed yellow eyes glaring down at him in hatred. Ranma didn't even bother with an answer, charging straight at the beast with his sword before him. The dragon responded with a roar and did the same, heavy claws thudding onto the ground with its massive weight. The monster barely had time to register the martial artist's grin before he leaped up, running along the length of her scaly arm and to her head. The katana lashed out once more, striking right where his Persona had hit before.

The monster screamed in pain, one claw reaching up to cover her head from the assault while her serpentine tail lashed about to try and catch the martial artist, this attack landing with a heavy thwack against the martial artist's back. It was Ranma's turn to cry out in pain now as he was thrown across the room, just barely able to bring himself out of the free fall before he smacked himself against one of the remaining walls of the dark dojo. Air rushed out of lungs as he landed, it taking a great deal of Ranma's will not to pass out.

"See that?!" Shadow Akane cried out, stomping closer to the pig-tailed martial artist, fire licking at the edges of its mouth. "I'll always be the best and everyone will love and adore me for it! This is what you get for just barging into my life and trying to be better then me!" The dragon roared out after this, inhaling deeply to launch the fiery attack.

Head pounding, dizzy from the damage he took, Ranma glared up at the beast before him. He knew he'd only have one more big attack in him, and if he didn't make this work, he and the others were done for. Forcing himself to his feet, the pig-tailed martial artist stood up and called once more on Wukong, pushing all of his remaining energy into the Persona's power. Taking a breath, he gripped his sword tightly in his hand before shouting up at the dragon. "If you think that they're going to fawn over you when you look like an overgrown alligator, you've got another thing coming!"

" **WHAT?!** " The dragon shrieked, eyes insane with anger. She had completely forgotten the prepared fire breath as rage took over, the Shadow's huge maw snapping down at the martial artist.

Ranma jumped before the razor fangs could close about him, propelling him up into the air and giving him full vision of the spot in the dragon he had attacked before. He felt Wukong's power building in him, the Persona ready once more to bring its power into reality when the feeling changed from the physical blow that he originally intended. With a rush of snow cold energy that burst through the Saotome heir, the giant monkey-like figure appeared once more.

Instead of brandishing his weapon on the dragon's head, though, Wukong spun the staff about with practiced ease before catching it with one mighty paw, pulling it behind his back. The Persona then thrust out his opposite hand, the index finger extended while while the rest of the digits were bent. The energy that Ranma had built up within him left in a rush, forming a huge block of ice that slammed into the dragon's head in full force. Even as exhaustion swam over Ranma again, mental this time to signify the use of will for the elements instead of physical power, Ranma dropped from the height of his jump through Wukong's fading form, bringing the sharp tip of the katana down and through the monster's head.

The shadow let out a horrified scream, the entire body of the beast shaking, thrashing about as the fatal blow registered. This continued only for a moment before it could struggle no further, the beast falling to the ground in a heavy thud, her form exploding outwards in cascade of dark energy. In it's wake was the form of doppelganger of Akane, trembling before them.

With her Shadow defeated, some strength returned to the original, the midnight-blue haired girl struggling upwards lightly, the supporting hand of Sasuke beside her. "Is… is it over?" Akane asked, her voice thick with a mix of anger and sickness. Her eyes never left the yellow-eyed copy that now slowly stood back to it's feet. "Why is that thing still here?"

"That thing is your shadow, Akane..." The little ninja said with a frown, watching the copy wince a bit at being called a 'thing'. "The reason it went berserk is because you denied it. She came from you, is a part of you..."

Akane frowned herself at Sasuke's words, biting her lip softly. The youngest Tendo girl gave a small jump when she felt a hand placed on hers, turning to see Ranma smiling down at her. "Even if that is how you truly feel, Akane… doesn't make you any less of a person." the martial artist said, wanting to ease a bit of the pain he could see on her face.

With a sigh, she stood up, walking to her Shadow with a serious look on her face. Stopping before the yellow-eyed counter part, Akane spoke, almost too quiet to be heard. "Maybe, Ranma, but it did make me feel like it. I was the best at everything I set my mind to, even without the help of others. And even though it came from those stupid boys at school, was forced to fight against them…I showed them that there was no one who could beat me. It hurt when you came and showed that I wasn't anywhere near as good as I thought I was."

Akane shook her head, taking a shuddering sigh, before clasping her shadow with both hands on the other girls shoulders. "You are me..." she said at last. "And I am you..."

The shadow smiled at the Tendo girl's words, nodding happily. In a burst of energy Ranma was growing to recognize as the Personas, he watched as Akane's counterpart transformed. No longer was it the monstrous shadow that he had fought or a copy of Akane. The figure that stood before them matched Wukong in size, clad in a tight gown that clung to her frame. Atop her brow appeared to be a crown fashioned into the likeness of a dragon, it's maw clad about the Persona's hair. In her arms lay a weapon, a razor-edged fan that continued the theme, the scaled forms of the mythical creatures adorning it in place of the wood that might hold together a mundane one. With a smile, the Persona knelt down, touching her lips to Akane's forehead before vanishing as Wukong had done, the bright light of energy filling into the Tendo girl.

"Otohime. My Persona." Akane said as the woman faded from view. She then turned to the others, her face twisted into a mixture of guilt and embarrassment. "I'm sorry, you guys. I got too full of myself and we all nearly died as a result. I should have listened to you all from the start."

"Even so, Akane..." Ranma stated, stepping forward slightly, a slight smile on his face. "You wanted to show your best, and I nor anyone else can fault you for that. We also could have handled telling ya to stay put a bit better then we did. Besides, I think it turned out alright in the end."

"More then alright," Kodachi agreed, nodding. She then frowned, noticing how Ranma held himself, the overwhelmingly sick look plastered on Akane's face. "But we should perhaps talk about this a bit later, once we return safely to our world. Everyone could do with a little bit of rest."

In full agreement, the quartet left the Shadow version of the Tendo dojo, focused entirely on returning home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After thinking about it some again and talking to a few others, I must admit that while the original reasons for Akane's Shadow, while still in theme with her character, were a bit too focused on a singular aspect and didn't match how Akane is as a whole. Thus the rewriting of Akane's shadow to reflect more of how I feel she would be... how her main problem isn't her desire for attention (Which is still a factor for her), but more with the fact that she was the best before Ranma came. While he's still done some to try and sooth her wounded pride, But not enough to stop the Other Realm from giving birth to her shadow. 
> 
> As for who the Shadows were in this chapter, they would be the Hablerie enemies which tend to be the most generic of mooks that you see as enemies in Persona. Them fighting Ranma and causing him to summon his Persona, Wukong, is a direct nod to how Souji/Yu summons Izanagi in Persona 4.


	5. Momentary Reprieve

The return trip to the mirror that would lead back to their home plane was, thankfully, an uneventful one. But that didn't stop Ranma from taking up the back end of the party, his hands constantly straying to the borrowed blade, ready to draw it at a moments notice. Of course, the martial artist wasn't too sure if he could even fight off any Shadow that decided to attacked the weakened party. Between the energies he had expended, Kodachi's injuries, and Akane's exhaustion from whatever had happened when her own Shadow had formed, there was little doubt in his mind that even a non-combatant would be able to take them on with little issue.

Other worries were also flooding the Saotome heir's mind as he continued his vigil, ones that made him a little sick to his stomach to think about. When Igor had first told him about the 'trials in the future', the pigtailed fighter had wanted to keep it strictly to him. Getting others involved only meant there would be more people on the line when all hell broke loose. Past experience had taught Ranma that it was better to take on all the trouble himself instead of having others that you had to work towards protecting. With Akane gaining a Persona, though, the martial artist had doubted that she would stay on the sidelines.

Personas… That in and of itself was something that made Ranma uneasy. Even now, after the fighting had died down, he could feel the power of Wukong in a corner of his mind. He wasn't sure if the being he summoned was another intelligence, or just something that he could invoke, but unusual powers that he hadn't gained through rigorous training left the male uneasy. That wasn't to say that he disliked or wanted to rid himself of the strength, but he wouldn't exactly rest easy until he knew more of the force that he and Akane now commanded.

His eyes went from their constant scanning of the area around him to settle on the youngest Tendo daughter, memories of the fight with her darker side. He hadn't considered that she would feel that way, much less with the overwhelming power, the hatred that her Shadow had shown. Other than her father whom had stopped training her years ago and Dr. Tofu, who was an unknown when it came to what possible influence he had on the girl, Akane was the only one who had shown placed any effort into the art at all. And Ranma had not only come and shown that she wasn't the best about, but that she didn't even hold a candle when in comparison. Looking at it from her side of things, the Saotome heir was hard pressed to think that he would have handled it much better in her position.

Kodachi was another matter entirely. Being involved with monsters for most of your life? Being part of a family that dealt with them over the generations? Fighting these things and being left as the last? Ranma wasn't sure if he should be awed at the girls resilience or treating her as a ticking time bomb. It also begged the question: Just what would she have done had Ranma never come to Japan?

Any further introspection on Ranma's part was derailed as they came upon the mirror once more, Kodachi opening the pathway for them. It was only after the quartet had safely arrived back in the small room within their own reality that the martial artist relaxed his wary stance.

"Uhg… I feel like I was run over by a truck." Akane groaned, looking even worse then she had when they had first left the Other Realm, her face pale and eyes lacking the normal fire that Ranma had seen before.

"As I said before, that world isn't meant for humans." Kodachi responded, hobbling over to the chair that she had taken before the whole mess had started, wincing as she sat back down. Sasuke was right beside her, eyes worried until his Mistress waved her hand at him to ward him away. The little ninja frowned, but nodded, moving about to clean up the cups they had used for their tea earlier. Kodachi turned back to the two Persona users, frowning as she continued."It strains any who try to exist there, and even those with the proper protection will eventually feel it's effects."

"So what's the plan now then?" Ranma asked, frowning slightly, taking a seat at the table as well. "I don't think running into the Other Realm and fighting Shadows every day is going to get us anywhere."

Kodachi nodded, letting out a small sigh. "Until I can discover why the barrier between the worlds has fallen, the best thing we can do is to act as a defense. While I do think going into the their world and fighting them might help in our cause, it would be fruitless to try and eradicate them."

"That's because of the whole thing about them being darker parts of human emotion, right?" Akane said, looking up weakly.

"Yes. The Shadows will never cease coming into being, not so long as there are dark thoughts and desires in human hearts. We may be able to hold them at bay and ensure they don't cause any harm to those in our world, but I'm afraid that we'll never truly stop them."

Ranma nodded, understanding her words. He knew better then most just how dark some people could be, with his pops being a prime example. Shaking his head free of Genma Saotome, the anything goes martial artist frowned while he watched Sasuke. The teen knew that the Other Realm had a negative effect on those who weren't protected, but the small ninja seemed almost falling over himself as he put the last of the tea cups away.

"Yo, Sasuke… are you alright?" he asked, bending down to look the small man in the eye.

"Yes, Mr. Saotome, I'm fine…" the Ninja replied, not wanting to appear weak before the teen. "It is the illness of that place… It will pass in time." With that, Sasuke turned from Ranma with the same speed and efficiency he had before they had all gone through the portal, stone faced and grasping for the tea pot that had been left on the table. That was beyond his capability to deal with the sickness, though, as the Ninja suddenly swayed with a sick sound, falling over on his back and the tea kettle falling behind him.

Ranma let out a yelp when the water hit him, dousing him with water which had cooled remarkably since they had used it for the tea before. The marital artist growled a little as the curse activated, the now red headed girl looking down at herself with a groan. "And here I was thinking that I'd be able to escape this today with all that I've gone through." she said, wincing at the sound of her soft soprano filling the room.

Kodachi's mouth dropped open, eyes wide with surprise. She looked from Ranma to Akane and back and then whispered "What in the world..." Sasuke's own gaze mirrored that of his Mistress, though his own eyes held suspicion.

"It's a curse." Akane supplied, shaking her head a bit at her sparing partner, the smallest of grins on her face. "Cold water turns him into a girl, hot back into a boy. He got it traveling through China."

"I… see." Kodachi responded, though her lips were pursed together in a line. Ranma just rolled her eyes at the look, glad that was the  _only_  response he had gotten from his classmate. She would much rather have confused indifference to her transformation than having to deal with people freaking out as they had before. Then again, considering Kodachi's own secret about the Shadows, it might explain why she had taken the redheads curse better then most. Pulling out the thermos that Kasumi had given her earlier in the day, Ranma dumped the still hot water over his head, returning himself to manhood.

Shaking her head softly and letting out the smallest of sighs, Kodachi spoke once more. "I think we've all been through enough for one day. Any other matters dealing with the task at hand can be taken care of after we've rejuvenated ourselves. Will you need an escort home?"

"No, we'll be fine..." Akane said before the pigtailed could say anything, surprising him. His blue eyes glanced over at her, a bit of worry gnawing at his mind. Ranma wasn't exactly sure how he was going to approach the Tendo girl after all they had just gone though, but he had been almost certain that she wouldn't exactly want to be all alone with him.

Kodachi simply nodded, the smallest of smiles crossing her lips. "In that case, I wish you both a good night and safe travels back to your home."

~oOo~

The sky was near black by the time the pair had made it back home, stars starting to dot the night sky. A small sigh escaped Akane's lips as they crossed the threshold of the Tendo Dojo's front door. Even after the experience within the Other Realm, it seemed that the young woman didn't associate anything bad with the place she called home. Smells of carefully cooked food wafted through the empty halls and Ranma's stomach made a loud growl of desire.

Akane couldn't help but snort at that, gazing over at her sparring partner. "I guess I can't fault you for being hungry." the long haired girl said with a half smile. The martial artist only nodded back to her, covering his stomach with his left hand as a small blush dusting his cheeks.

Any further interaction between to two was interrupted by the appearance of Nabiki, the short-haired girl blinking as she turned the corner of the hall, a small book in her hands. "Oh, there you two are!" the middle sibling said, a knowing smile crossing her face. "We were beginning to wonder when you two were getting back. Daddy was starting to think you were getting ready to join the schools after all."

"He should know better then that!" Akane said with a growl, though it had only a fraction of the strength the girl would normally use when something displeased her. The difference didn't escape Nabiki's notice, the girls eyebrows knitting together a bit. Ranma couldn't help but be a little surprised at this since it was the first time since he had met the girl that he'd seen anything else but a frosty calculating neutrality.

"Are you alright, Akane?" She asked, the slightest note of worry in her voice.

"I'm fine. Just had a bit of a whirlwind day. All I'm wanting to do right now is to get some food and get to bed." Akane replied with a weary smile. Her statement was furthered punctuated with another loud rumble from Ranma's stomach which got a laugh out of the long-haired girl. "And I think if we wait any longer to get to dinner, Ranma will start eating the furniture."

Dinner had been a simple affair after that. Kasumi had made grilled mackerel for the family and it had been made with such care that Ranma, not having to worry about fighting with his father for the food, simply took his time to enjoy the meal. It was rather unusual to actually experience the different flavors that were used to cook the fish then shoving his face fast enough to ensure he actually had a full stomach before night's end. Akane was also near silent during the entire meal, though the pigtailed martial artist could only guess it was because his sparing partner was still recovering from the day's events.

Ranma had been about ready to pack it in for the night, walking through the hallway that lead to the stairs when a knock sounded off from the front door. Raising an eyebrow at a visitor so late in the evening, the cursed teen tensed only a little as he answered the door, just in case.

A tall, older man was on the other side, dressed in a rather fine tailored suit complete with tie. He had sharp features, though a bit gaunt with age, and gray had only started to flow into his sharply slicked hair. The man's narrow eyes gave Ranma the once over before smiling, a warm action that seemed a bit at odds with his face. "Excuse me, may I speak to Soun Tendo?" the man said, his tone soft, but firm, like a high ranking official.

"Yeah, sure. Just give me a moment." Ranma replied, giving him small nod as he eased his tension. The hawkish man didn't appear to be any kind of fighter. Moving down the hall enough to talk to the Tendo patriarch while still having an eye on the figure in the door, Ranma waved Soun over. "Ya got a visitor, Mr. Tendo."

The head of the Tendo dojo looked for a moment confused before rising and moving to the front door. His eyes lit up a bit as he saw the man standing there, reaching out his hand in greeting. "Ah, Captain Kurosawa! It's good to finally meet you. Though if you had told me that you were coming at this time, I would have been able to prepare something for you."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Tendo." Kurosawa said with a small frown, though he took the hand offered and gripped tightly. "I would have sent some forewarning, but I'm not exactly here on pleasant business."

Now it was Soun's turn to frown, the dark-haired man brushing at his mustache softly with one hand. "And just what seems to be the problem?" he asked, a hint of worry tinging his voice that made Ranma tense once more.

"Remember the matter that that I had Torikiri talk to you about?" the hawkish man responded, his eyes flickering over to Ranma for a moment, a movement that the young martial artist didn't miss.

"Yes… what about it?" Tendo asked, more worry flooding into his tone. By this point, the sisters had joined Ranma in the hallway, all of them looking on at the two men in confusion.

Kurosawa gave the Tendo Patriarch a small look, but when Soun didn't move, the graying haired man just sighed softly, pursing his lips in annoyance. "He's dead, Tendo. Xian Ryokou is dead."

The words froze Soun, the man's mouth open in surprise. The girls looked to each other recognizing the name while Ranma looked a bit confused, turning to Akane with a questioning look. The youngest Tendo girl waved him off, whispering "Later" under her breath. It took another moment for the head of the Tendo household to recover, but his face became hard when he did. "What happened to him, Kurosawa?"

"We don't know just yet. He found his body hanging off a telephone pole within the city limits, with no clear evidence of what did the deed. We won't know exactly what killed him until we get a full on autopsy report, but none of the normal signs of foul play are evident. What's more, it's more then a little odd to find someone dead like that..." the man trailed off, looking at Tendo.

"Unless they've got some skill and training in the arts." Soun finished, nodding and frowning deeply now, holding his chin between his fingers. "Though even the highest level of martial arts would leave some sign on the body. I assume that with this, you'll be wanting my help even more now?"

"Yes," The Captain said with a small nod. "From what I've been told about your martial arts, it wouldn't be that hard to leave the man in that kind of position, much less causing his disappearance in the first place. With your skills and reputation, I would appreciate any help you'd be able to offer us on this case. Oh, and you kids..." Kurosawa's narrow eyes turned to the quartet still listening. "Please breathe no word of this for now. We don't need our investigation troubled any more with the media catching wind of this just yet."

"I'm sure that they'll behave themselves, knowing that it's better to let the Police operate as they see fit." Soun said, though his eyes were focused on Nabiki of all people when he said this. The middle daughter just shrugged before she faked a yawn, heading up the stairs.

The Captain nodded before handing Soun a small slip of paper, looking at the man with a serious expression. "I'll be at this address, Tendo. If you can, I'd like to meet you there tomorrow and we can discuss what to do from there." With that, he left, leaving the Tendo Household in near silence.

"Are you going to be alright, Daddy?" Akane asked, moving closer to her father.

"Yes, I'll be fine," The old man responded, putting on a smile for his daughter. It was clear to even Ranma, though, that Soun had been shaken and saddened by the news. With a heavy sigh and a shake of his head, the Tendo Patriarch smiled at teens before walking upstairs. "I'm going to just be turning in earlier tonight. Wouldn't want to keep the good Captain waiting by not getting up early enough."

Once Soun had left them and Kasumi returned to cleaning the kitchen, Ranma frowned, turning to Akane. "So, what was that all about?" he asked, confusion still on his face.

"Mr. Ryokou is… was an actor that Daddy followed for years. He was very famous for being in a lot of different action and romance movies, though they were mostly from other countries. He was known as China mainly because he'd always go and emphasize his culture whenever he was on screen, doing things like quoting ancient Chinese proverbs even when he was supposed to be doing a role that wouldn't support that kind of thing."

"Huh, sounds like an interesting guy. Wonder who would want to bump him off." Ranma said with a frown, crossing his arms.

"I'm not exactly sure, Ranma, but all I know is that I've had about enough thinking for the night." Akane responded with a grimace, rubbing her head. "Are we going to spar in the morning?"

"Only if you feel up to it." Ranma said, his tone a little worried still. "I don't want you pushing yourself after today."

The youngest Tendo girl nodded, smiling at her sparing partner. Wishing him goodnight, Akane retired to her room, leaving the martial artist alone with his thoughts. He didn't get much into them before his own weariness made itself known as an almost physical force that weighed down on his mind. It would probably be better to think about all this in the morning, after he'd had time to rest. With his own yawn, Ranma went to his own room to sleep.

~oOo~

"Welcome." Came the familiar voice, causing Ranma to open his eyes, though by all rights he should be fast asleep. Once again, the martial artist felt the swaying of the sea rocking the room back and forth gently. The smell of salt air swam through his mind as he focused himself, bringing his attention to the two before him. The long nosed Igor and his-yellow eyed assistant Caroline.

"Do not be alarmed, for you are fast asleep in the real world." The long nosed man said, his grin still as wide as ever as he stared at Ranma with his large, near bulbous eyes. "I have summoned you within your dreams so we might converse undisturbed."

"Yeah, might be a bit better." Ranma responded, grinning lightly at the man. "Won't have anyone trying to wake me up for several hours."

Igor nodded, a small chuckle escaping his ever grinning mouth, the man's steepled hands obscuring the smile. "Indeed. It seems that you've discovered your power, as well as the trials ahead that you must face." the man said, gazing directly into the martial artist's eyes.

"Yeah, just how do you know about that, huh? Couldn't ya have given me just a tad bit more warning?" Ranma asked, a frown covering his face. Though he still didn't think Igor was exactly trying to mess with them, it seemed odd that he didn't just flat out tell the Saotome heir what he needed to know in the first place.

"Sadly, I am limited in what help I'm able to offer our guests." The bald man said with a small, tired sigh. It surprised Ranma to see that ever present grin fade for the odd man's face for a moment. "My knowledge of the events that have transpired only came once the deed had been done with which, along with other restrictions, would not allow me to be of much use to you in that particular matter. Seeing as you were able to call upon your power, to use it to protect others, I believe I would have been of little help even if I were capable of giving it."

Ranma nodded, thinking Igor's words through. Whatever he and his assistant were, they weren't exactly human. Heck, he wasn't even sure if they were  **real**. But if the long nosed man was some supernatural power that was allowed to work among the real world, it would make sense that there would be some limitations he'd have to work under. That's when his words hit the Saotome heir. "My power? You know of the Persona?" Ranma asked, eyes wide.

"Indeed, I do." Igor responded, his grin returning in full force and growing all the wider. "The Persona… think of it as a side of yourself that shows when you face the difficulties of the world around you. A facade of determination that you'll be able to wear should the need come." The old man's eyes gazed directly into Ranma's, flashing with glee. "You, in particular, have a special ability compared to others who wield Personas."

"What's that?" Ranma asked, eyebrows shooting upwards. He didn't feel like his Persona was any different from Akane's, at least other than in looks.

The long nose man continued to grin as he explained, delight dancing on his features. "Your Persona ability is known as the Wild Card. It is like the number Zero, empty, but holding infinite possibilities. With it, you gain unique attributes that others are unable to gain for themselves. The first is the ability to control the power over your own heart, and the heart is strengthened through bonds. As you form bonds by becoming involved with others, your Social Links will gradually develop and grant power to your Personas in turn."

Ranma frowned at that. Bond forming with others and he'd get power out of it? That sounded more then a little suspect. The pigtailed martial artist frowned as another thought came to him, giving Igor an almost cold look. "I don't know if I like that… I don't want to be friends with someone just to use them for power."

Igor let out a laugh at this, the bald man actually leaning his head back and showing his entire wide mouth in his mirth. Off to the side, Ranma could see Caroline also grinning widely, though there was no malice in it.

"Oh, my dear boy, no." The long nosed man said, wiping away a tear from one eye with a handkerchief he pulled out of his sleeve. "Social Links do not work in that fashion. You can not form a bond with someone with the simple desire of power deep within your own heart, nor would it work that way even if you could. The power I talk about is more a representation, a strength granted to you by those you befriend, allowing you to call upon their strength in addition to yours in order help you throughout your future trials."

The Saotome heir thought about this for a moment before nodding, a small smile crossing his face. He liked the idea of that a lot better, though he still doubted if such bonds could really take place. It wasn't like the pigtailed fighter was the social butterfly of the world.

"With all that said, Social Links are more then just a show of your bonds." Caroline said softly, surprising Ranma a bit. He had damn near expected the older woman to be mute, having never seen her speak before. "In troubling times, they will help light the way for you, to help guide you onto the correct course." The woman's lips twitched, stopping yet another smile from appearing. "Of course, we will do our best to help you as well."

"And just how can you do that? From what ya guys keep saying, there's only so much you'd be able to do." Ranma pointed out, a little concerned.

"True, but what we can offer will greatly aid you." Igor siad, that ear splitting grin never leaving his face. "Another power the Wild Card possesses is the ability to obtain multiple Personas at once. Should you acquire them, I can then use my abilities to fuse them together, resulting in new personas!"

 _I can have more then one Persona? He can make MORE of them for me?_  Ranma thought, his mind swimming a bit with the idea. He wasn't even used to the thought of having one of these 'facades of determination' within him, much less having more than that. But then again… it might be required for dealing with the Shadows.

Caroline then picked up a small book, showing it to Ranma, turning it open to the first page. On it appeared to be a single card in the upper left hand corner of it, the image of a monkey-like man standing with his staff on the side.  _Wukong!_  Ranma realized, gazing down at the image of his Persona. "This is the Persona Compendium." Caroline said, golden eyes locked onto Ranma. "As you obtain Personas, either through trial or through fusion, their status shall be recorded here. Should you ever find need to call upon a particular Persona again, I can use this tome to recall them to you at any time."

"Hold onto this." Igor said, drawing Ranma's attention back to him and placing a small key onto the table before the teen. The martial artist took it into his hands, turning it about in his fingers. The key was a deep blue, like the rest of the Velvet Room, and it seemed to near glow with an otherworldly power. The long nosed man chuckled once more as Ranma gazed at him with confusion. "From this night forth, you are a guest and shall be able to return here of your own free will. When you do, Caroline and myself will do our utmost to ensure you succeed in the future."

The pigtailed martial artist stared down at the Velvet key for a few moments, before nodding and clutching it close. He looked up at Igor and Caroline, nodding to the two of them with a determined smile. "I'm not sure if I understand everything about you two, but thank you. Any help in all this craziness is appreciated."

Igor chuckling softly once more. "It is our duty, and I do look forward to traveling these waves of your destiny together." He said, nodding his head. "But I believe that is more then enough of your slumber that we've occupied. Until we meet again… Farewell."

~oOo~

When Ranma had awoken the next morning, he felt more energetic than he had since first arriving in Tokyo. He bounced on his feet a bit, relishing in the new found strength, and experimented with a few punches into the air. It was rare for him to wake up this rested and the martial artist could only wonder if Igor and his assistant had anything to do with it. Thinking about the pair brought the fighter's attention to the small blue key that lay beside him, glinting in the early morning light.  _Well, I guess that proves their existence if nothing else._  He thought with a grin, pocketing the key.

The Saotome heir was more then a little surprised to find Akane dressed and ready for their morning training when he knocked on the door, the dark haired girl giving him a nod as she strode past him. He just grinned lightly before following her, letting the young woman lead in the run to Furinkan High School and back.

It was as they were on the return trip that Akane came to a stop, face red from their run and breath labored. Ranma frowned, knowing that the youngest Tendo daughter had more then enough stamina to do this training, specially after asking for it. "What's wrong?" he asked, moving beside her, face tinged lightly in worry. Was there something from yesterday that they had missed?

Akane took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before she spoke. "I wanted to apologize again, Ranma. For yesterday." she said, her voice soft. "I knew it was a bad idea to rush back into the Other Realm like that, especially with how sick the place was making me feel, but I just didn't think. I let my pride get in my way."

"Hey, it's alright, Akane." Ranma replied, a small grin crossing his face, his worry ebbing away. "If anything, yesterday was a good thing, now that you've got your own Persona to help us out."

She laughed at that, nodding softly as a smile broke across her face. "I know, I just can't help but feel a bit ashamed of my Shadow, 'specially when it went on about me. I really did enjoy all think I was better then everyone else... and like the attention. It was almost a sense of power, in a way."

Ranma nodded. He himself hadn't stayed long enough in any one place long enough in his life to know more then a few good friends, some of whom he still could just barely recall today. He could still see how even bad attention could be desired, though. "What about Kuno?" Ranma asked, curious to see his sparring partners reaction.

The long haired girl shivered a bit at that, her face twisted into such a feature of disgust that Ranma had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. "Ugh, no. He's one that I wish had no interest in me what so ever. It doesn't exactly make me feel any better to know that he's effectively been driven insane by the Shadows either. Makes me feel a bit bad fighting him at all, even though he's the one that caused the whole mess at the school in the first place."

"Maybe you should show him that Shadow of yours then." Ranma commented with a grin and an added wink to show her that he was joking. "If the fact that you have supernatural powers doesn't scare him off, the huge dragon that could eat him a single gulp just might."

Akane laughed again, louder this time, a genuine smile spreading across her face. "Ranma, you jerk." She said, the obvious mirth in her voice taking the bite out of the otherwise rude words. "Come on, Let's get to back to the Dojo, we've got some training to do."

He nodded, the pigtailed martial artist mirroring her smile with one of his own. If nothing else for all the things that he had gone through, Ranma found himself starting to enjoy the fact that he had come to stay with the Tendos. He could even feel, almost physically, the starting of a friendship form with Akane.

That's when a heavy, sourceless voice echoed out in Ranma's head. He knew it wasn't Wukong, for the Persona had been silent ever since he had taken form in battle that first time. But the power, the tone, the sense of the otherworldly. That Ranma  _did_  recognize as being related to the monkey that lent him strength.

 _Thou art I… I am Thou…_  The voice rang out, warmth in the voice that Ranma couldn't otherwise describe.  _Thou hast established a new bond. It guides thee through the depths of chaos… Thou shall be blessed when creating Personas of the Strength Arcana._

Ranma couldn't help but gasp a bit as the sound and warmth that had filled him faded away, making him shake his head. Almost immediately, his mind went back to his talk with Igor in his dreams and he could only guess that this is what they were talking about when they had told him about Social Links. What ever the Saotome heir had been expecting, the small sensation of a bond between him and Akane that he could near physically feel hadn't been it. Still, part of the pigtailed martial artist smiled as he followed his sparring partner back to the Tendo Dojo.

~oOo~

School passed without much incident, with Ranma actually staying awake this time. With how good he had slept the previous night, it didn't matter that the teacher was talking about something that the martial artist wouldn't have much interest in, the young man found that he simply couldn't nod off like he normally did. It did make him think though that maybe perhaps he should try a bit harder in school, though. It wasn't exactly like he wanted to suffer through all this learning more then once.

"Glad that's over." Akane said with a small stretch, pushing one arm skyward while it's twin tugged near the base of the shoulder. "I don't know if it's the teacher or the subject, but this particular class always makes me feel like it lasts forever and a day."

"Least you can follow the subject. I'm still wondering if they're speaking another language half the time." Ranma responded with a small laugh.

"Should you ever need help in this class, Ranma, I would be glad to offer you my help." Kodachi said, approaching the two with a small smile.

The martial artist could still see a few bandages about her form, most noticeably her left arm and leg, but otherwise the girl seemed to be handling her injuries better then the previous day. "I might hold ya to that, Kodachi." Ranma said, returning the smile.

She nodded her head softly, almost a small bow, before turning her gaze to Akane. "And you, Miss Tendo, are you doing well?"

"Yeah, I am. Thanks again for yesterday. I still feel really bad about pulling you into all that." The youngest Tendo sibling still looked a bit pained, knowing how much danger she had put them all in.

The other girl shook her head, looking at Akane directly as she spoke. "What's past is past, Miss Tendo. There is no point to dwell on it so long as you've learned from it and strive to not make the same mistakes in the future."

The mindight-blue haired girl nodded, breaking out in a wide smile.

"So, what's up, Kodachi? We need to worry about anything?" Ranma asked, frowning a bit. It would be just like his life to throw something else crazy his way right when he was starting to enjoy himself a little.

The Black Rose shook her head, a frown crossing her face now, wrapping her arms about herself. "Sasuke and I have started to search to find why the barrier has vanished, but as of yet, we've been unable to locate anything. He's trying to get into contact with some allies of ours who lives on Tatsumi Port Island. If anything, it might give us some hint to what's happening." Her gray-blue eyes closed for a moment before focusing back onto the pair before her. "For the moment, though, I simply ask to keep your eyes and ears open for any unusual events. It seems that most of the Shadows are still unaware of the fact that they're freely able to travel between our world and theirs again, but it'll only be a matter of time before they discover it."

"Don't worry!" Akane said, grinning wide as she smacked a fist into her palm. "We'll show those things what it means to mess with us!"

"Besides, we told ya we'd help, Kodachi, and we will. So long as you need us, we'll be there." Ranma added, his own grin mirroring his sparing partners.

Kodachi stood still for a moment, before a smile, a full genuine smile crossed her lips. "Thank you..." she said softly, bowing her head once more. Warmth filled Ranma at that smile, as he felt their desire and dedication to the task before them become entwined. It was with a start that Ranma recognized that warmth.

_Thou art I… I am Thou. Thou has established a new bond. It guides thee through the depths of chaos. Thou shall be blessed when creating Personas of the Fool Arcana._

_Another social link?_ Ranma thought, the smallest look of confusion crossing his face. He examined the feeling of emotion that ran through him, even as it faded into the background of his mind.  _But this one… is with both Akane and Kodachi? Maybe it's more about us as a group instead of a single person._

The martial artist looked over at the two girls beside him, who were now discussing something less worrisome then Shadows and the other realm. A book series about a private investigator who was also a wizard, from what he was hearing. He couldn't help but smile as he watched the two talk. For the first time in a long time, Ranma felt like he was in charge of his life. Even if he was still thrown into something insane, the pigtailed martial artist felt like he was capable of facing things head on. And he knew he wasn't alone, not with Akane and Kodachi both willing to help and even Igor and Caroline in the Velvet room too. All of this told Ranma one thing.

If this is what it took to fight the Shadows, then Ranma looked forward to it.

~oOo~

He gritted his teeth together for the umpteenth time as he trudged through the high brushes of the farmland. The information he had gotten from a nearby farmer had revealed the truth to him, he was still a good five hundred miles away from his destination, and going the wrong direction to boot. The broad-shouldered young man had done his best to reign in his anger, knowing that there was only one who deserved it. And the sooner he found him, the better he would be.

"Ranma Saotome..." he snarled, sharp canine bared to the world as he headed down the road he had been directed to Furinkan High School, not knowing that he had once again turned down the wrong path. "Once I find you, I'll make you pay for what you've done to me. Once I find you… prepare to die!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: If you seem some repeat between the author's notes I've got from the last chapter and the content of this one, that's mostly because I further tried to hammer in my thoughts of Akane's shadow in story, to try and explain just what's going on. I hope that got across.
> 
> We're now in true story territory at this point. If this were a game like the Persona series it draws from, this would be pretty much where Yosuke joins up with the crew in 4. This is also where the Ranma elements of the world will be in better balance with the Persona elements, now that the characters have a little bit of downtime and a certain lost boy is making his way towards them.
> 
> Also, despite it mostly being a game mechanic, I am going to be keeping track of Ranma's stats and social links. Part of this is because I'd like to tell everyone's story that I have for each social link, to show the character development I've got played for every character. The other reason is because I'm kinda excited to see what peoples thoughts are when they see the darker side of the cast. If you folks want me to, I'll make sure to post any 'Rank ups' for Ranma at the end of the chapter. I'll start it here, and continue it if there's enough favor for it.
> 
> Social Link Ranks:
> 
> Fool/Rank 1
> 
> Strength/Rank 1


End file.
